Metroid Prime Hunters: The Shadows of War
by tracefan
Summary: Part 2 of a trilogy. Continuation of my last fanfic MPH: The Hunt for True Power.
1. Prologue

It had been two weeks since the Hunt for True Power had ended. The 7 hunters had all gone their separate ways, but one hunter in particular had a very special destination. His destination would bring either glory and riches...or dishonor, and even death. For Krikens were forbidden to return to any Kriken controlled planet unless they had found a planet to invade.

Trace, the formidable Kriken bounty hunter, knew he was risking his life for the return. He had yet to find a suitable planet, but his reason was greater than that. In the aftermath of the Hunt, he had successfully retained the Ultimate Power, the Omega Cannon.

His year of exile for the rite of passage had brought him the special weapon, although Samus and the other hunters thought is was destroyed. They were mistaken, and Trace was known for taking advantage of mistakes. He approached one of the Kriken controlled planets, apprehension gripping his very being.

This was the riskiest thing he had ever attempted, as if attacked, he couldn't win, even with the Omega Cannon. The heart of the Kriken Empire loomed in the distance.

Trace struggled to relax, but it was impossible. He could be executed, or imprisoned for this. Trace looked at his arm cannon, smiling sinisterly as he equipped the Omega Cannon. The benefit might just be worth the difficulties...

The other chapters will be longer than this.


	2. Briefing

Samus arrived at the Federation base for briefing.

"Samus!" barked Commander Grater (which was humorous as he was the one who gave out irritating orders.)

"Yes, sir?" Samus responded immediately, resisting the urge to add a sarcastic comment.

"Congratulation on your success at the Gem Ruins. I assume you received a file of your next mission?" Grater barked. Grater never learned how to manage an 'inside voice' and therefore was perfect for commanding positions.

"There may be a problem, sir. I believe the file has been intercepted." Samus said, knowing the response Grater would have.

"How could that happen if the file was in your ship's vault?" Grater yelled, yet with a honeyed tone to it, usually associated with sarcasm although with Grater it was hard to tell.

"Trace might have seen it when he infiltrated my ship. He somehow knew my access code." Samus said, feeling foolish saying it. Grater's smile didn't fade.

"You mean SR388? Seriously, Aran, the entire Federation knows it." he bellowed.

"And if they didn't before, they sure hell do now!" Samus retorted. Silence filled the room.

"Are you being insubordinate Aran?! You're on probation and another remark like that and you're finished! Do you understand?!" Grater roared. Samus bit her tongue to prevent herself from shouting back.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Samus said monotonously. Grater glared at her and continued.

"The question was...do you have the file?" Grater snapped.

"Yes, sir. However, I wish to note that if Trace knows about the mission, he may be able to interfere." Samus said quietly. Grater chuckled humorously, the only quiet thing he ever did.

"Oh, of course! Interference is something you've never been able to handle, despite the incredible pay you receive!" Grater shouted. Samus scowled under the helmet. They barely paid her what the missions were worth, but she was already in hot water and did not reply.

"You know the mission, then? Good! Get to it. You'll be escorted there with some Federation Gunships but once there, you have to go solo. The ships are still there for backup, but only for emergencies, got it?" Grater barked.

Samus nodded and added hastily, "Yes, sir!" when Grater glowered at her, grinding his teeth noisily. She saluted and turned on her heel, seething. Orders was always something she hated, but it was a necessity. If only the commander was reasonable or at least quieter.

She sighed and reached her ship. She had already changed the access code (graterstupid) and within a minute was flying towards her next mission where there were sure to be complications, and she was definitely going to be underpaid.


	3. Registration

Sylux growled in frustration as he scanned the computer readout. He had 'visited' alf a dozen Federation bases and there was no information about Samus. He held his Shock Coil lazily as he paused at the bottom of the readout.

"Operation Dark Shield...a Federation project..." Sylux murmured to himself.

"Naturally...Samus would be involved since she is the best they've got." Sylux said with a sneer, tapping buttons on the controls of the Delano 8, the upgrade of the Delano 7.

The events surrounding the upgrade still worried Sylux, since he wondered whether there were side effects to its use. Pushing those thoughts aside, Sylux put the Delano on autopilot and relaxed. Time was on his side, and against Samus.

Before long, she would die and Sylux's lifelong mission to devastate the Galactic Federation would be complete.

Meanwhile, the last Diamont in existence was also traveling the galaxy. He had to know whether the story was true. He had to know if Kriken history covered the massacre of the Diamonts. Although there was minimal doubt that Trace had been honest about his knowledge of the Diamonts' fate, Spire wanted absolute evidence.

He studied the charts he had accessed. The Kriken Empire's nearest archive was not far from here. It was at that moment Spire realized the recklessness of the trip, a detail he had evaded too long. If any Kriken saw him, he was dead. If he was truly the last Diamont, there was a glory reward for exterminating the last.

_Sick creatures._ Spire thought in disgust. He had spent most of his life at the training camp on Mondreus, where he trained to be a bounty hunter.

According to what Trace told him, Trace's brother not only killed Spire's parents heartlessly, but also spared Spire by wounding him as a toddler and putting him secretly in the training camp with the intention of killing him after he trained up. Trace also said that before his brother died, he had passed the honor to Trace and had wanted Trace to kill Spire.

Spire since then had been fleeing Trace, who seemed eager to finish the job. Spire approached the Kriken Archives, which was a space station a little too close to a heavily guarded Kriken planet. Spire shuddered involuntarily. It was time to risk it all...

Noxus was flying absently towards the Kriken systems. He wanted to know. Was Trace lying when he said the Krikens didn't control Vho? The Kriken Archives would be the natural place to look, but since you had to register for access, Noxus didn't think it would be wise to say "Do you guys contol Vho?" because that would risk another Kriken/Vhozon war.

And then Noxus would be known in both race's history as the idiot who created the greatest catastrophe in Vhozon history in the last 100 years. He also planned to restock his supplies, but Krikens were infamous for selling things with bias. Noxus groaned as he received a transmission.

"Yes...?" Noxus said, praying it wasn't a Kriken. Since he had just flown into Kriken territory, his prayer was not coming true.

"Identify yourself!" hissed a cold voice.

"Um...this is the ship Eternal Justice..." There was a choked sound from the other end, as if someone was struggling not to laugh and Noxus scowled. Why was that _everyone's_ reaction?

"...requesting permission to access the Archives." Noxus finished as soon as the Kriken had stopped snickering, which was several seconds later.

"And your name is?" the Kriken's voice inquired. "Noxus." Noxus replied, nervous.

"And you are a..." the Kriken's voice trailed off.

"Vhozon." Noxus muttered. More choked laughter and Noxus glared at the computer communication screen, glad he had visuals disabled.

"Anything in particular you're looking for?" The Kriken sneered.

"Browsing." Noxus retorted.

"Do you want an escort?" the Kriken asked sarcastically. At that moment, Noxus would sell his ship for the chance to be in the same room as that Kriken, to be able to fire his Judicator at the bug's neckless head.

"No, I'm good." Noxus said angrily.

"Why does that response not shock me? Your ship was hint enough..." the Kriken snickered. Noxus entertained a vision of 'going Kanden' on the Kriken.

"Enjoy your browsing, Vhozon!" the Kriken snickered and disconnected.

"Ship entering perimeter of our territory." one Kriken said lazily. The supervisor glanced at the control screen and squinted.

"Get a reading and have them register." The super said coldly. The job was dull, but necessary to ensure no invaders entered or exiled Krikens try to return.

"You need to identify yourself." the first Kriken, Servu, hissed. Sometimes the job was fun, like mocking certain races, like the Vhozon a few minutes ago. A gruff voice answered.

"This is the ship Avalanche. Requesting permission to access the Archives." Servu narrowed his eye suspiciously. 2 visitors in less than 5 minutes?

"And your name?" Servu hissed.

"Um...Bob." the voice responded, voice shaking. The Kriken gestured to the super, who looked surprised.

"Race?" The super hissed.

"Human." came the response, a little too quickly. The super stared at the communications for a moment.

"Anything in particular you're looking for?" sneered Servu.

"Browsing." the response said. To date, no visitor had answered otherwise. Kriken history was fascinating, but no one of any race wanted to admit what they were looking for.

The Archives, to some Krikens, had a little too much detailed information about Kriken biology and history, and even some chemistry tomes.

"Do you want an escort?" Servu asked, glancing at his supervisor, who was calling the command units on the planet.

"No. I can manage." the gruff voice said.

"As you wish...Mr..." Servu trailed off.

"Thanks." the voice said, disconnecting. The stunned Kriken stared at the communications. No one disconnects from Krikens, especially when registering. The supervisor hung up his communications.

"We have an alert on details on the ship. If it's suspicious, they'll send a squad over. No worries." The super smirked. Servu nodded. The call had been suspicious, but first lull the fool into a false sense of security. Upon arrival, a tracer would be placed on the ship and extra information would be determined. Servu turned to answer another registration.


	4. Kriken Space

As Trace approached the Kriken planet, he became less anxious. This was a startling change, but he took it in stride. He hastily disabled visuals when he received a transmission. He remembered that it really didn't matter, but even so he didn't want to be seen.

"You need to identify yourself!" sneered the familiar voice of Servu, the registration worker who had a huge grudge against Trace.

_I would get Servu, wouldn't I?_ Trace thought, annoyed. "This is the Kriken Sniper. My business is with the Overlord." Trace said quietly.

Silence a moment, then Servu's sinister voice said "And you are...?" Trace hesitated a fraction of a second.

"That's only the Overlord's business, Servu." he said, grinning in spite of the abrupt danger.

"Is it really, Exile?" Servu sneered.

"Yes. That's what I said, Servu." Trace replied, mentally picturing Servu's blood pressure rising.

"The Overlord is busy, so you should reconsider the venture until you've completed the exile." Servu snapped.

"I've done enough to interest him!" Trace snapped back.

"Hehehe. Well, you can meet with the Overlord in a year or so, when you've fully completed the exile." Servu snickered.

"Servu...I have the strongest weapon in existence. I think the Overlord might care about it, and the acquiring of an incredible weapon overrides the need to find a planet first!" Trace said with a hiss.

"You think so? The Overlord probably prefers to do executions himself, anyway. He's offplanet, but if you think you're that 'special' to be able to break the rite of passage, you can dock, and you'll be met shortly." Servu sneered.

"Whatever." Trace snorted dismissively.

"Oh...and Exile?" Servu sneered. Trace ignored him.

"...I hope you're wrong, Trace." Servu whispered. Trace scowled and disconnected.

Meanwhile, Samus was being escorted by 10 Federation battleships. She scowled again as she thought of Grater, but paged through the mission file. The Federation suspected that the Kriken Empire was planning an invasion of Federation systems.

They wanted details to confirm or disprove the fear, and somehow Samus was selected. She still thought in unwise to continue the mission if Trace knew of it, but her views were ignored. Trace was an exile, and would be killed if he contacted the Empire for anything.

In fact, the suspicion of Trace's discovery accelerated the carrying out of the plans. Trace couldn't warn the Empire if he was still an exile. Samus recharged her weapon systems, and studied the file again. The plan was to infiltrate an underground lab and copy all research.

Not her favorite type of mission, as Krikens were in great numbers, and not as weak minded as Space Pirates. Somehow, she could see a great deal of trouble ahead.

"Miss Aran...we are approaching Kriken territory. You are solo from here on. Report only in case of emergency." Samus nodded to herself and shut off the communications. She stared out at the Kriken controlled system.

She sighed and piloted her ship towards the Archives. From there, she would concentrate on infiltration of one of the Kriken planets.

Kanden, the mutated bounty hunter, was searching the galaxy as well. The tracer he had place on Samus' ship was still active, and he was trying to get the coordinates. Behind his ship was Weavel's personal craft, which was significantly smaller than his own ship.

Weavel was the cybernetic Space Pirate, who had just been exiled from the Space Pirate army for incompetence. Weavel had spent days cursing over the incident, to Kanden's disgust. Since the Gem Ruins, they had traveled together, as they had similiar objectives of finding Samus or other places to destroy.

"Hey Kanden!" Weavel's voice called from Kanden's comm system.

"What is it?" Kanden growled.

"Kriken territory is where the signal is coming from!" Weavel replied, ignoring Kanden's less-than-pleased response to his call.

"Coordinates, Weavel?" Kanden asked, impatiently. Weavel sent over a series of numbers, which Kanden transferred to his autopilot. They had begun the hunt, but what they would find was more than they ever expected.

The beginning is somewhat slow, but it will pick up soon.


	5. The Battlelord

Author notes: I do not own Krikens or Trace. I created both Drek and his color. Do not use color without the permission. This is only Kriken color I want.

Trace landed at Docking Bay 7, and true to Servu's word, there were a dozen or so Kriken soldiers waiting, weapons ready. Trace tried to remain calm as he exitted the ship, making no remotely aggressive moves.

"Where are we going?" Trace asked the leader. The kriken smiled coldly.

"The Battlelord. He can set up an appointment with the Overlord. If your reason for breaking the rite of passage was poor, he will sign for your execution." The kriken grinned cruelly and Trace rolled his eye, trying to look unconcerned.

Battlelords were the most powerful beings on each Kriken planet. They set up battles, observed training, made laws, and were the most elite warriors in the system. If you were taken to a Battlelord, it was usually bad news. After a few minutes of walking, the kriken guards paused at a single, unimpressive door. The leader knocked.

"Enter." hissed a cold voice from the other end. The leader entered with Trace and 4 guards.

"The exile who returned." The leader explained, gesturing to Trace. The kriken at a desk barely glanced up.

"Wait here. Guards are dismissed." The leader gestured to his guards and they left, the door locking behind them. The other kriken had disappeared into a side room and moments later, gestured for Trace to come in. Trace did so, feeling anxious. Inside the next room, Trace paused, surprised at the size of the room. There were about 7 blue kriken guards in the room, and a yellow secretary. The escort kriken left, pointing to the yellow kriken and then to Trace.

Trace walked forward and at the desk was given some disgusted looks from the guards. Exiles returning were usually considered as filthy as murderers in human society. Trace ignored the witherng looks and waited at the desk. The secretary studied a form and sent it through a chute, undoubtedly heading to the Battlelord. Almost immediately, a response came back, startling the secretary. She read it quickly and stared for a second.

"Is your name Trace?" she asked coolly, Trace nodded, puzzled.

"The Battlelord will see you now." she said waving her hand distractedly. Trace walked past the desk to the door and entered the dimmly lit room.

"Hello, Trace." said the filtered voice of a cloaked Kriken. Battlelords were suckers for drama.

"Your ship still good? Must be because you still have it." The Battlelord hissed, sounding amused.

"Uh-huh." Trace said, baffled. Battlelords never cared much about the ships of anyone, and the line of questioning was curious.

"You don't recognize me, do you Trace?" The Battlelord whispered.

"No. How do you know I'm Trace anyway?" Trace said, struggling to keep the frustration from his voice. The Battlelord chuckled and lowered his hood. The Battlelord was a venom green kriken with an emerald colored eye. This was an incredibly rare color and Trace gawked for several seconds. Not because of the kriken's color alone, but because he knew this kriken.

"Drek?" Trace managed to whisper. The venom kriken nodded.

"You're dead..." Trace whispered. Drek shook his head.

"I knew you were Trace because of the report. Ship was identified as Kriken Sniper. Had you not been Trace, your execution was guaranteed. After all...I bought it for you." Drek hissed.

"So tell me...have you found the Diamont yet?" Drek continued. Trace hesitated. Drek smirked.

"Come on, bro. You either found him and didn't kill him, or you never found him, judging by your reaction. First one?" Drek asked. Trace nodded. Drek shrugged.

"I thought you died, bro." Trace whispered. Drek smiled sadly.

"I was, as you know, ill. I bought your ship before your exile. I even named it the Kriken Sniper, because you showed such talent for sniping. However, they found a vaccine and I was saved. Since you were exiled, we couldn't tell you I survived. Since you were the most skilled warrior, I thought it'd be only a few months. It's been a year, brother. Yet I'm told you have not completed the exile at all. Why?" Drek looked stern and Trace gulped.

"There were...complications. I was searching for the Ultimate weapon, but to my cost, it was a trap. Samus Aran destroyed the monster known as Gorea and saved me and her other 5 rivals in doing so. There was a weapon called the Omega Cannon, and my next goal was to get it." Trace paused, but Drek didn't respond.

"I searched for a year and heard a new message, referring to a greater power. I defeated all my rivals, and won the Omega Cannon in a wager from Samus, but she didn't have it with her. I got overconfident and lost 5 of the 6 keys to the power, but later killed Spire, Weavel, and Kanden using the Omega Cannon I stole from Samus. They hadn't died, merely deep state of unconsciousness. Had I killed them, I'd have died against another monster, as the combined efforts of the True Power and Omega Cannon destroyed the monster. I then lost a duel with Samus Aran, and she believed the True Power and Cannon destroyed." Trace said.

Drek looked at Trace skeptically. "She was wrong." Trace finished and revealed the Omega Cannon. Drek stared at it a moment and looked at Trace appraisingly.

"Well, bro...that might be enough to redeem your failure. However, you realize it isn't mass producable and therefore is your responsibility?" Drek asked and Trace nodded. Drek studied Trace again and handed him a golden emblem. Trace recognized it as the mark of a Battlelord.

"You are ordered to remain on the planet until the Overlord meets you, but you are free to move around without guards. See you later, bro." Drek smiled at Trace, who nodded in thanks and left.


	6. History Discovered

Noxus entered the Kriken archives, still fuming after his registration. He sighed and struggled to relax. The Archives was deserted and he was glad for it. He reached a computer terminal, glancing around the dome-shaped station as he accessed a browser. This would tell him where to look for the tome he wanted.

He typed in 'Vhozons'. After a few seconds of searching, an arrow flashed to the left at the 'Non-Kriken History' section. Noxus followed the neon arrows and found a tiny section marked 'Vhozons'.

He lifted a tome marked 'History' and scanned the table of contents for Kriken/Vhozon war. He read carefully and found the most promising chapter.

"Vhozons no match for Kriken army, and ultimately surrendered. The Krikens allowed Vhozons to resume normal life, partly due to the sheer inhability of Vho. The Krikens added it to their list of planets conquered and since then haven't lost any planets of value. The ownership of Vho is the Kriken Empire, but no Krikens are bothered with the icy wasteland. Since the war, Vhozons are held in contempt, and often belittled." Noxus shut the book with a snap and returned it to the shelf.

Trace was half-right. The Empire didn't care about Vho, but still counted it as part of their conquered planets. Noxus scowled and then froze at the sound of heavy footsteps. Glancing out from the shelves, Judicator raised, Noxus saw Spire, the Diamont hunter.

For a moment, Noxus couldn't believe what he was seeing. Why would Spire, one of the most hunted creatures, go into the Kriken Empire, where his death at the hands of a Kriken would earn the kriken fame?

"Spire?" Noxus called, softly enough to not alarm Spire. It half-worked. Spire still raised the Magmaul, but didn't fire.

"Noxus?" Spire blinked, shocked.

They both said at the same time, "What are you doing here?" They paused, then both responded, "Browsing!" They smirked.

"How'd you get past?" Noxus asked, gesturing out the window at the planet.

"I said I was a human." Noxus stared at Spire.

"I think they didn't fall for it." Noxus said slowly. Spire shrugged and typed in 'Diamonts'. An arrow flashed to a single tome labeled 'Diamonts'. Spire seized it and read. Since the Krikens eliminated the Diamonts, there was little prehistory.

Most of the book was devoted to in-depth accounts of the war. Noxus, who read over Spire's mammoth shoulder, shuddered multiple times. Spire paused at the bottom of a page, frowning.

"What?" Noxus asked him, confused (and admittedly annoyed Spire wasn't turning the page).

"This page mentions the murders of the Diamont Council...they..." Spire paused, causing Noxus to grow frustrated.

"At least turn the page." Noxus muttered irritably. Spire glared at Noxus in a truly frightening way, but obliged.

"The chapter is called 'One to go'?" Noxus read, horrified.

"Bastards." Spire growled. Noxus read a truly shocking account about how 1 Diamont escaped and hadn't been seen since. The Diamont's name was Spire, and he had been a toddler. Rumor had it that he crawled aboard a Kriken ship and was unintentionally dropped off at a training camp.

A year later, the rumor was official as the training camp refused to give any information on a Diamont trainee. Several attacks were made on the camp, but all were foiled by the Galactic Federation. The camp was ultimately destroyed, but it was confirmed that the Last Diamont still lived as a bounty hunter.

Noxus stared at Spire in confused awe. Spire nodded and then threw the book across the room, watching as it landed with a thud.

"Let's go!" Spire muttered and headed for his ship. Noxus understood his anger. Trace's cruel story had been true. Noxus felt uneasy, and wondered what Spire's next goal was.

"Thank you. I'll let him know!" the registration supervisor said, hanging up. Servu looked at him curiously.

"The Avalanche belongs to a Diamont named Spire." The supervisor said. Servu goggled at him.

"The Last Diamont?" Servu hissed.

"The assignment is yours. Go to the Archives and capture the Diamont. If necessary, kill him. The Battlelord will need to see it first. The honor would be yours if you capture it." The supervisor said. Servu smiled. Job just got better.


	7. Servu

Spire and Noxus hurried towards the docking bay. As they reached the door, a beam of red energy fired, striking the area where Spire had been moments before. Spire whirled around, Magmaul ready. A slim red Kriken with a yellow eye stood across the room. His weapon aimed at Spire, a sadistic grin on his face.

"Who are you?" Noxus yelled. The kriken smirked.

"I am Servu, the greatest kriken alive." Servu's grin widened. Noxus scoffed dismissively.

"Doubt it?" Servu whispered dangerously. "I've heard of you, Noxus, and you think you're tough. Bet you whupped Trace once or twice, eh?" Servu's yellow eye narrowed as Noxus hesitated.

"Trace, the weakest of all krikens, beat you?" Servu's laugh was wild, somewhat psychotic. Spire was inching away, but Servu fired his Imperialist and it misse Spire by a millimeter.

"Trace would've hit me." Spire mocked. Servu glowered a moment.

"So you say that filthy exile would have hit you? He would, since I was aiming to the right of you. I am the most accomplished sniper in kriken history!" Servu hissed. "I want you alive!" Servu finished coldly. Spire fired his Magmaul, which he had been charging.

Without missing a beat, Servu sidestepped the flying projectile with ease, another red beam striking the Magmaul, disabling it. Servu had done it so effortlessly that Spire gawked. Pleased at the reaction, Servu grinned. Noxus fired his Judicator charge at the ground, but Servu, seeing the technique, leapt into the air, another Imperialist shot striking Noxus' Judicator, likewise disabling it. Smirking, Servu slowly approached, tapping a button, sealing the exit.

"Give up. You're both under arrest. Make another move and I'm permitted to kill." Servu sneered, but Spire lashed out his fist, trying to pound Servu, who ducked with absurd speed, firing his Imperialist upwards, hitting Spire in the chest. Spire's eyes bulged and he collapsed. Noxus was backing away, horrified. Servu took the chains he had worn decoratively and wrapped them around Spire, who groaned, struggling to move.

Servu raised his Imperialist and fired at Noxus, who spun into Vhoscythe, blade spinning. Servu leapt about 10 feet into the air, firing another beam. Noxus' scythe broke open, forcing him back to biped as he lost consciouness. Servu grinned demonically and raised the Imperialist to Noxus' head and fired. As his finger tightened on the trigger, a bolt of energy hit him from behind, and he whirled the Imperialist at the new target, who ducked last second.

"So...it's the terrorist, Sylux!" Servu sneered. Sylux recoiled at the sight of the yellow eye.

"You're not Trace!" Sylux cried in shock. Servu's face darkened.

"I'm better than Trace could ever pray to be!" Servu fired his Imperialist and Sylux sidestepped in time. Servu looked at Sylux appraisingly.

"So...not as cowardly as the stories say, eh?" Servu whispered, firing again. Sylux dove forward, rolling under the beam and returning to his feet, his Shock Coil homing in on Servu, who gasped, but didn't fall. Instead, he fired his Imperialist, disabling the Shock Coil. Sylux stepped back, horrified.

"No one's that good!" Sylux said stupidly.

"No? Well you'll see how good I am now!" Servu bellowed, firing a fatal shot. A small orb of energy struck his arm cannon, and it jerked, the beam only brushing Sylux, but the beam was still strong enough to knock him to the ground.

Servu looked in the direction of the newcomer, and breathed in shock, "Samus Aran!". The legendary hunter, fully suited stood across the room from Servu. Sylux looked alarmed, but being unarmed, could not attack her.

"That's me." Samus said simply.

"So...what are you doing here?" Servu challenged.

"I was in the neighborhood, and saw the Archives." Samus said.

"Did you register?" Servu asked, confused. Samus laughed.

"No, the bugs let me in without registering." Servu glowered at her and fired. The beam narrowly missed.

"Insult the Kriken Empire again, and you die!" Servu sneered. Samus fired a missile in retaliation, but Servu leapt into the air, dodging the splash damage and firing at Samus. Samus hopped sideways, firing her Power Beam at Servu, who snickered and dodged_ in midair!_ Samus paused a moment, barely avoiding another beam of light.

They circled a moment and Samus fired again, the bolts far off. Servu still grinning as he fired again. The beam missed Samus, striking Sylux, who yelled in agony and fell to the floor, unmoving, but alive. Samus fired more missiles, and Servu cackled as they all missed. After a full circle, Samus backed up a pace and leapt into the air, doing a superb forward flip. Servu leapt up to mimic, and Samus lashed her leg out, smashing Servu's control device. The exit unlocked, but Servu ignored the detail.

Another red beam and Samus fell to the floor, pain in her left leg. Servu advanced, grinning. Samus struggled to stand, but to no avail. Servu snickered, and raised the Imperialist.

"I don't care how legendary you are, Aran. I'm better!" As he squeezed the trigger, a small green orb circled behind him. Servu was momentarily distracted and turned. A line of electricity was behind him. He turned back towards Samus and saw the green orb lay another silver ball. Lines of electricity connected the 3 silver orbs and agony like nothing he had ever experienced shot through his body. His yellow eye bulged and he tapped a button on a second device before all went black.

So you saw Trace's greatest rival in action. This was also the first major action, with more to come.


	8. Interrogation

"Hey, Kanden!" Weavel's voice startled Kanden and he responded with, "What?". "Do you think it's odd that Samus is in Kriken territory?" Weavel asked. Kanden considered this previously ignored fact.

"Actually, yes. We're almost there now." Kanden said, studying the coordinates. Within 10 minutes, they had arrived on the edge of Kriken space.

"You both need to register!" A kriken head appeared on Kanden's visual, glaring at him curiously.

"Um...I'm Kanden." Kanden said hesitantly.

"What's your business?" The Kriken asked coldly.

"Ummm...browsing at Kriken Archives?" Kanden responded. The kriken's eye narrowed.

"The Archives are closed. There was an issue there. Either turn back or be attacked."

"I hate you bugs." Kanden muttered, forgetting the connection was still on. The Kriken chuckled malevolently.

"Land at docking bay 4 or be fired upon."

"What? I'm leaving." Kanden sputtered. The Kriken grinned.

"Leave and be fired upon, land and live." The connection broke off and Kanden felt a thrill of terror creep into him. Weavel contacted him seconds later.

"IDIOT! Now we're arrested!" Weavel raged.

"How is this my fault? You needed to register, too!" Kanden shot back.

"I said I was with you!" Weavel admitted.

"So, it's your fault." Kanden grinned.

"Oh shut up!" Weavel snapped. They argued all the way to docking bay 4. There were over 2 dozen blue kriken guards, weapons aimed at the landing ships. Kanden noted that his weapons and comms were down while he approached. Jamming devices at the bay.

Kanden slowly exitted the _Poison_, his ship and walked slowly to towards the guards. Weavel left his unnamed personal craft and walked faster towards the guards, some of which raised their weapons. Weavel ignored this.

"Now what?" Kanden demanded of the leader.

"We're taking you to the Battlelord." the leader replied.

"The what?" Weavel demanded.

Kanden gestured for him to shut up and whispered, "The leader of the kriken planet." Weavel stared at him.

"How do you know that?" Weavel hissed.

"I've been to the Kriken Archives before." Kanden shrugged. They walked in silence and were led to a small, unimpressive office.

"These 2." The guard leader said simply, pushing the 2 hunters into the room. 3 guards lingered and the kriken barely glanced up, but walked to another door and left for a full minute and returned, gesturing for the guards to leave, and Kanden and Weavel to enter.

When they walked in, 5 elite guards kept weapons trained on them as they walked to the desk where a yellow kriken secretary sat, filling out paperwork. She gave them a curious glance, but otherwise ignored them. Weavel shot glares at the guards who were still aiming at their backs.

"Excuse me, but what the hell..." Kanden began to the secretary, but a beam of red fired past his head.

"WHAT?" Kanden whirled around, glaring at the guard who fired.

"No offensive language towards any of the secretaries!" the guard yelled back.

"I'm guessing you are thinking about more than chivalry, right?" Kanden called back. "I mean, you don't care about enforcing rules, you care about something else, eh?" Kanden smirked. The room had grown deathly quiet. Weavel inched about 3 feet away from Kanden as every kriken in the room stared at the mutated hunter with a look of awe and shock.

This all happened in 2 seconds before the beams flew across the room. Kanden raised his Volt Driver and fired back, and shouts of pain or rage echoed in the silent room. More beams ripped through piles of paperwork or signs. Kanden, having fought Trace several times, found their aim to be pathetic next to Trace's perfect accuracy.

Volt Driver shots fired with far greater accuracy and after several minutes of constant fire, all 7 of the room's guards were wounded and unable to continue the fight. The secretary had taken refuge under the desk to avoid Imperialist shots. Weavel had ducked behind a pillar and had disposed of one guard who fired at him.

"Smart, Kanden!" Weavel spat. "We're currently being held on a kriken planet and you decide to go create a war zone in the Battlelord's outer office! Now we may as well shoot ourselves to deprive them of their favorite passtime: Executions!" Weavel paused a second.

"Actually, our favorite passtimes are conquering planets, virtual battles, and square dancing." A soft, deadly voice said behind them. They slowly turned around to see a black cloaked kriken lazily pointing the Imperialist at them.

"I'm guessing you're the Battlelord?" Weavel asked, successfully hiding any fear he was feeling, which was, unfortunately, quite a bit.

"Yes. Come into my office." He gestured to a room and they entered, nervous. The Battlelord followed behind them, and sitting behind the desk where they stood in front of him. The Battlelord chuckled softly.

"You can sit down." They glanced at each other and did so. The Battlelord watched them carefully and lowered his hood. Kanden flinched as he saw that the kriken was venom-green, with an emerald eye. Weavel looked puzzled.

"Ah...you recognize the color, Kanden?" The Battlelord smiled.

"What's so special?" Weavel asked, nonplussed.

"A venom green kriken is one of the rarest colors in existence. To date, every venom kriken has been an instant prodigy. The only rarer color is black." Kanden whispered back and the Battlelord nodded.

"Yes...there's been one exception. Another instant prodigy was red. Only red kriken to be as strong as a venom, but ultimately lesser." The Battlelord smiled.

"Trace?" Weavel guessed, but the Battlelord hesitated.

"No...I'm referring to the kriken known as Servu. How do you know Trace?"

"Um...rival hunter..." Kanden muttered.

"Is he better or worse?" The Battlelord hissed.

"Um...know those guards out there?" Weavel asked, pointing at the door.

"Yes. The elite blues." The Battlelord nodded.

"Trace makes them look like amateurs." Kanden supplied. The Battlelord nodded, with a satisfied smile.

"My bro makes every kriken look weak." There was a long silence.

"You're his brother?" Kanden asked, slightly shocked. The Battlelord smiled. Kanden exchanged a look with Weavel.

"The one who hid Spire at a training camp?" Kanden continued. The Battlelord nodded.

"Trace said you died!" Weavel said.

"Trace thought I did. I'm very much alive." The Battlelord hissed.

"Now what?" Weavel askd.

"Well...ordinarily, you'd be imprisoned for several years for attacking guards, and interrogated as a suspected anti-kriken terrorist. I can tell that you are not terrorists, but I still must order your imprisonment until the Overlord arrives. That'll be in a week. The Overlord decides your fate then."

The Battlelord pressed a button on the desk and in seconds some guards entered the room, seizing Kanden and Weavel. The Battlelord smirked coldly as he raised his hood. That was when he received the important piece of news.

"In pursuit of target. Samus Aran is in Kriken territory. Suggesting acceleration of production." Drek paused as he read the message. So Samus had come, as Trace had told him not long after their meeting. Perhaps it was time to check in on the operation...


	9. Encounter

Samus hurried past the now biped Sylux and reached Noxus and Spire, both which were now conscious.

"You alright?" Samus asked. Spire grunted a bit and Noxus was a bit weak, but they'd be fine when they recharged at their ships. Samus turned to go and Sylux glowered at her.

"Keep hunting, Sylux!" Samus said with a chuckle. Sylux turned and returned to his ship. Samus exitted the Archives and reached her ship and flew towards the planet. It was all she could do, other than abandon the mission.

She landed in a wasteland and dropped out, her ship on autopilot now. She landed gracefully, arm cannon poised to attack. According to the mission file, the target was nearby. She set off in the direction of the target coordinates, wary of kriken defenses.

Meanwhile, Servu awoke, fuming slightly. He had been caught off-guard and they had escaped. That would never happen again. Servu gulped, picturing the Battlelord in a fury. He had no choice, and immediately upon boarding his _Kriken Assassin_, which was identical to Trace's ship except it was smaller.

Servu scowled as he sent a transmission to the Battlelord, asking for orders. A visual popped up with the frightening silhouette of the Battlelord.

"I'm sorry, my lord. They escaped." Servu sputtered, but the Battlelord looked coldly amused.

"It's fine, Servu. Your previous transmission helped me ready the defenses. You are promoted to General and instructed to pay a visit to the Lab. Ensure the prototype is finished. Oh, and Servu...generals aren't forgiven as easily. Try not to trigger the penalties!" The Battlelord disconnected.

Servu stared in shock. He had been promoted, threatened, and given a difficult job in less than a minute. Servu sighed and set his course for the Kriken Lab. He wouldn't fail, and he'd crush all in his way!

Trace was, at this time, waiting in the main Kriken city. It would be a week before he'd know whether he'd be rewarded or punished. Trace wasn't too worried, having the Omega Cannon could do that. It gave him a sense of near invincibility, but he was too disciplined to succumb to temptation. He glanced at the sky and saw a familar silhouette.

"Is that my ship?" Trace muttered, then froze in shock. It wasn't the _Kriken Sniper_, but its rival, the _Kriken Assassin_!

"Servu?" Trace muttered. As if hearing the name, the ship landed nearby and Servu exitted, his yellow eye gleaming.

"We meet again, exile!" Servu sneered, slowly approaching. Trace said nothing, but stood up. Servu smirked coldly.

"So good to see you struggling to be important, Trace." Servu mocked. Trace smiled slightly.

"Coming from a kriken in a registration booth." Trace said. Servu glared at Trace in rage.

"I've been promoted!" Servu hissed.

"To assistant supervisor?" Trace asked. His question was intended to mock Servu, but at the same time, Trace wondered whether that was the actual promotion.

"Laugh if you want, exile. I'm a general now. The Battlelord only gave you temporary protection, and before long you will be executed. And as a general, I might be the one to do it!" Servu sneered. Trace jerked his arm cannon, aimed at Servu's face.

"Best be careful, exile. Harming a general is a military crime, punishable by immediate execution!" Servu snickered as Trace slowly lowered his arm cannon.

"However...I'll take you on in the virtual room. Not as satisfying as outright killing you, but it's a start." Servu sneered.

"Aren't you busy, Mr. General?" Trace sneered back. Servu smiled.

"Yes, as a general, I'm very busy. However, I have a few minutes and I can book a virtual room easily. So, trying to back out?" Servu laughed.

"Bring it!" Trace said.

Samus reached the clearing leading to the military archives. It seemed defended, but not very well. Samus activated her heat visor and noticed there were 3 guards, all on sniping towers. She checked her weapons and equipped the Judicator. She ducked behind a large rock and aimed at one of the guards.

She checked the aim with the Imperialist's zoom, an fired the Judicator. A single, nearly invisible bolt of plasma lanced out from her spot, striking one kriken guard, who dropped soundlessly. Samus was breathing hard, but struggled to calm herself as she fired at the second guard. As that one dropped, she hastily equipped the Imperialist and leapt out from her spot, firing with perfect accuracy at the final guard.

She sighed with relief as she raced through the clearing and reached the main door. She slid open the door and slid inside, shutting it behind her.

She stepped into the half-lit hall. The archives had information on kriken planets and fleet positions. She reached the first room and dodged an Imperialist defense cannon. She fired missiles, and it exploded loudly.

She winced and checked the nearest computer. The Federation wasn't attempting a war, so all fleet positions were irrelevant. Only information pertaining to Federation planets...before she could access the data, there was a triumphant hiss from the entrance. Samus swore and raised her arms as 7 blue krikens entered the room, weapons pointed at her.

"Good evening, Miss Aran." The leader sneered.

"I've had better, and so have you!" Samus yelled, firing a charged Volt Driver bolt. The electricity seared through half the troops, doing only minor damage. Pity she didn't have Kanden's volt driver...she ducked an Imperialist shot and fired a Magmaul burst as well.

The leader dodged, but the two krikens behind him yelled in pain. Samus dodged another beam of red, which blasted the computer she had accessed. She had the suspicion that had been done on purpose. In the small room, she knew she'd be overwhelmed before long. A beam fired from the leader, who hadn't fired yet untl now.

The beam hit her in the chest and she groaned, falling to one knee. She panted, struggling to fight. The 6 conscious krikens (one had passed out after the Volt Driver explosion) moved in, ready to kill. She noticed a figure at the door.

"Look behind you." she said, knowing they wouldn't.

"Please Miss Aran, that's an old trick that never works," the leader scoffed.

"Which is why it worked," Samus said with a laugh as bolts of energy struck the leader from behind. The other 5 turned and Samus fired missiles to assist the Shock Coil of Sylux's. In a minute, the krikens were defeated.

"Really, Samus. Why were you even here? The krikens raised their defenses!" Sylux snapped.

"Business." Samus replied simply, using an energy tank reserve to recover. Since the Gem Ruins, she carried one just in case.

"Then you know why I'm here. Ready to die?" Sylux whispered.

"We'll see, Sylux. We'll fight somewhere else...bye!" Samus rolled into morph ball and boosted from the room. Sylux stared in surprise and cursed.

"Hello terrorist!" A kriken sneered from the door. A beam of red and Sylux blacked out.


	10. Duel With a Rival

Servu led Trace to the virtual chamber and flashed an ID. The receptionist nodded and led them to a VIK (very important kriken) room. Trace waked to the other side of the arena and accessed the computer.

"Download weapons for use in battle." The screen said. Trace placed his arm cannon in a slot and seconds later the names of his weapons were listed.

"Battlehammer, Volt Driver, Judicator, Magmaul, Imperialist, Shock Coil, Alt-Disabling Missiles, Power Beam, Omega Cannon. Correct?" Trace typed 'yes' and the room darkened as the simulation began. Trace smiled slightly. He had reloaded a Shock Coil after his first was destroyed by Samus, thinking she had destroyed the Omega Cannon.

The room shimmered and then Trace found himself in a battlefield with some rock pillars around. The ground was cracked, but level, with only a small incline. Servu appeared on the other side of the field and their eyes met. Servu fired, and Trace ducked just in time. Servu was far more accurate than Trace expected, but he was still not that good. Trace fired back, the red beam narrowly missing Servu. Sevu grunted and fired again.

Trace morphed to Triskelion to dodge and smiled as Servu did the same. They circled a moment and Trace lunged, returning to biped and firing an Alt-Diabling missile directly at Servu. It hit, but nothing happened at first. Trace leapt away as Servu lunged, and readied the Imperialist. His greatest rival must still be sore from their last duel, and this duel wasn't going to be much different.

The instant he thought this, the disabling effect kicked in and Servu was forced back to biped, startled. Trace fired and Servu tried to leap away, but the beam caught him in the chest and he fell backwards. Servu rolled backwards as he hit the ground, returning to his feet expertly and fired again.

"What have you done?" Servu bellowed as Trace ducked behind a pillar.

"My Alt-Disabling missiles. Everyone of my rivals hate them!" Trace snickered, firing a Battlehammer bolt to the left of Servu. Servu, thinking Trace fired an Imperialist, sidestepped into the bolt and was knocked to the ground.

"Dammit!" Servu screamed in fury, another beam shattering part of the pillar. _Use the rage..._ Servu's eye widened in shock. That voice...so familar, but why? He fired another beam, shattering the pillar altogether, and he fired again, hoping to end the duel. Trace wasn't there.

"What?" Servu hissed. Trace lunged, in Triskelion, catching Servu off-guard and knocking him backwards into a wall. Trace returned to biped, firing the last Imperialist beam, but Servu kicked off the wall, and the beam missed by an inch. They continued to circle and then Trace fired a charged Volt Driver shot at Servu's feet, sending electricity through his rival. Servu scowled and then lunged forward in biped, leaping into the air and firing down upon Trace.

Trace attempted to dodge, but was hit in the stomach. Trace fell to one knee, but rolled from another shot. Servu landed gracefully, then whirled around and shot at Trace, hitting his arm.

"On top of your game at last, Servu?" Trace smirked, but Servu chuckled.

"I've been slipping, but now you'll pay for overconfidence!" Another beam struck Trace in the chest, and he staggered, falling to the ground.

"Just keep fighting, Trace! You're making the same mistake Servu did. We remembered this is virtual...but what if it was real!" Trace scolded himself mentally. If this was a real battle, not virtual, he'd be more strategic. Servu had also realized his mistake and was correcting it by being more accurate and deadly than ever. Trace fired a Judicator bolt, which missed Servu by a lot.

"What was..." Servu gasped as the bolt rebounded, striking him in the back, knocking him forward. Trace fired Battlehammer shots, each striking Servu and shoving Servu back a few feet.

"I can't lose again..." Servu whispered.

_Always remember, Servu. Rage is power, and you're too weak to use it!_ Servu gasped again, remembering the bit of wisdom...

"DIE TRACE!" Servu screamed and fired another beam, but Trace looked worried at Servu's sudden mood change.

"You leave me no choice Servu!" Trace called, as Servu lunged again, a manic look on his face. Servu ignored him, ready to defeat his rival once and for all. He froze as a large golden orb apeared from Trace's arm cannon. It moved slowly, and Servu sidestepped it with no difficulty.

"That's it? You're an idiot! Ready to lose?" Servu aimed him Imperialist at Trace, who didn't even flinch. Servu fired, and Trace dove behind the pillar. The beam missed, and suddenly there was a flash of light so bright it was terrifying, and a pain like nothing Servu had ever experienced shot through his entire body. It was brief, and Servu collapsed, as his vision started to black, the arena shimmered. He hit the ground and one thought shot through his mind. _Why must I lose?_

Trace panted as the simulation faded. The virtual duel took a lot of energy out of you, while no physical damage actually occurs. Servu was physically unhurt, but losing sapped almost all energy out of you. In the simulation, Servu had nearly died from extensve injuries. Of course, an Omega Cannon blast wasn't fun, either. Trace stood and alked over to Servu.

"See you later, I guess, General." Trace said with a small smirk. Gloating after a virtual duel was considered poor sportsmanship, so Trace had to restrain himself from laughing. He had never lost a virtual duel, and never gloated (although in non-virtual duels, gloating is fair game). Servu glared at him with a look that plainly wished him death.

"You'll pay, Trace!" Servu hissed quietly. Trace smirked.

"You said that last time!" Trace said dismissively. With that last note, he turned and left. Fortunately, weapons were jammed while in the virtual building, otherwise a red beam would've taken him from behind. Servu recovered enough to stand and left, scowling. He reached his ship and took off towards the lab where he had been assigned.


	11. The Imprisoned

Kanden stood at the cell door, growling with annoyance. Being imprisoned for a weak was definitely on his lower end of the list of things he liked spending time doing. Suprisingly, Weavel seemed unconcerned, something Kanden didn't understand.

"Why aren't you annoyed?" Kanden finally asked.

"I'm planning our escape." Weavel muttered. Kanden was stunned a moment.

"We can't outfight about 100 krikens!" Kanden whispered.

"Our weapons are only jammed while in the cell itself and the hallway. All the krikens are affected as well. We rush them and we're home free. Problems include krikens from the unjammed room firing at us." Weavel hissed. Kanden puzzled this out a moment and nodded thoughtfully. Just then, 5 kriken guards entered the hall, dragging Sylux's limp form, which had started to come to. Sylux was thrown unceremoniously into their cell and the door relocked.

"Hey! Let me out!" Sylux yelled, as the guards walked away.

"Oh shut up!" one kriken called back.

"When I get out, you're dead!" Sylux yelled and the kriken laughed at him. The guards all left and Sylux turned towards his fellow prisoners.

"What's the plan?" Sylux whispered. Kanden and Weavel stared at him in shock.

"What makes you think we have one?" Weavel asked.

"You've been here longer than I have. The prisoners always conspire, so let's put the plan into action." Sylux said. The others smirked evilly.

Samus returned to biped and entered the second room. Inside this room was another archive computer and she activated the computer and once more began browsing to find Kriken Fleet positions. Suddenly, a red warning appeared on screen.

"POSSIBLE INTRUDERS IN KRIKEN SPACE." Samus winced. She continued the search and in a few moments a new warning appeared:

"Intruders Identified. Reward for capture of Samus Aran (human), Noxus (Vhozon) and Spire (Diamont). If dead, you will meet the same fate. Reward only for capture. Bring to Battlelord to claim reward." Samus scowled. The net was closing in already. The krikens knew she was on planet and now every kriken would seek her out.

She finished her search and paused. There was a fleet change. 5 Kriken warships had assembled in orbit around the planet. There would be no escape without a space battle. There were currently no records of fleet positions around Federation planets, nor were there records of any intention to create any. Samus' eyes narrowed under the helmet. Why was she sent here? Normally, the Federation double-checked all theri sources. This particular mission seemed poorly planned.

"INTRUDER ALERT!" an alarm rang out and Samus swore angrily, firing her Power Beam, shattering the computer. She raced out of the room and found herself facing about 20 krikens. The krikens raised their weapons and she considered whether to surrender or fight. She fired a missile and in the brief confusion, rolled into morph ball and boosted towards the exit. Krikens shouted in pain and others laughed in glee as they pursued her morph ball. She reached the exit and discovered it was now locked shut.

She turned to face her pursuers, firing missiles as fast as she could. More krikens fell to her weapons, but red beams of light streaked past her, some missing by mere inches, others forcing her to dodge. More krikens appeared from side rooms and joined in the battle. Samus placed a Power Bomb on the door and set the timer to 10 seconds. _Just enough to get out of range..._she thought, slowly walking away from the door, so not to arouse suspicion.

She continued firing her missiles and dodging beams of death. _8...7...6..._ Samus was still too close to the blast zone. She ducked another red beam and continued firing. _3...2...1_. Samus abandoned all pretense and leapt as far as she could from the door. A moment's pause and then a massive explosion ripped through the room, blasting the door apart, and sending krikens flying like rag dolls, where they slammed into the walls, some dead, others unconscious.

Samus was just barely out of the radius, and was unharmed. Panting from the effort, she hurried through the door to freedom. Unfortunately, the clearing was filled with krikens armed with Imperialists and 3 kriken commanders grinned eeriely. The battle was far from over, and Samus was running out of energy!

Trace reached Drek's office and waited for only 30 seconds before he was waved through by the nervous secretary. There were moderately injured guards around, and the room was filled with tension. Although this was typical whenever Trace was around anyone, it was unusual for krikens. Trace entered Drek's office and saw Drek wasn't wearing his hooded cloak this time.

"Yes, Battlelord?" Trace asked with a smile. Drek nodded at him and Trace sat in front of the desk.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you, bro. Do you know a 'Kanden' and a 'Weavel' by any chance?" Drek asked without smiling.

Trace was suspicious, but responded, "Yes. They're rivals. One is a robotic Space Pirate, the other a mutated experiment." Drek nodded thoughtfully.

"Why would they show up here?" Drek asked. Trace blinked in confusion.

"Here? As in the Kriken Empire?" Trace asked.

Drek sighed. "Yes. HERE."

Trace considered this a moment. "No. No one knew I had the Omega Cannon, and I see no reason as to why they're here." Drek nodded thoughtfully.

"How do they know anything about the Diamont incident?" Drek asked dangerously. Trace gulped sheepishly.

"Um...well..." he stammered and Drek scowled in annoyance.

"Get to it, Trace!" Drek snapped.

"Well...At the Gem Ruins...I got into a battle with Kanden and he claimed he had the 7th key need to get the True Power. I had 5, and Samus had 1 at that time. I demanded he give it, and he refused. I was about to kill him when Spire attacked me. Spire fought foolishly, and I told him what you told me. This emotionally devastated him, and he didn't recover until the Final Battle. Kanden was alive, so he spread word to the other hunters." Trace finished.

"Let me guess...you didn't disable Spire's gun and he's the reason your captives escaped." Drek said coldly.

"How...?" Trace gasped and Drek smiled. "You gave me details on how you beat your opponents, but you never mentioned how they escaped. Out of logic, I assumed that Spire was the only one not disabled since the other 4 were." Drek said. Trace nodded. His brother was very knowedgable, which is why he was a Battlelord.

"Now...what is this I hear of a virtual duel?" Drek asked quietly.

"Servu challenged me!" Trace protested. Drek smiled fondly.

"You beat him? Impressive." Trace's protest faded. Drek nodded and Trace understood himself to be dismissed.

"Careful, bro. Samus Aran has been confirmed to be on planet." Drek called after Trace, who froze in shock.

"Already?" Trace hissed.

"If necessary, you can have the assignment. You and Servu that is." Drek said with a chilling smirk. Trace nodded and hurried out.


	12. Complications

The luck of 2 hunters had run out. They had evaded detection for a while, but now they had been spotted by the Kriken Warships. Red beams fired from the Imperialist Cannons and Spire's Avalanche was just fast enough to dodge, but his wouldn't last long. He just couldn't dodge forever._ So weak...Never give up..._ Spire broke his thoughts from his memories and tried to focus on dodging more cannon shots.

Plasma bursts fired from the smaller Kriken Fighters, and Spire's shields could take those decently enough. He fired twin balls of fire rom his own weapon cannons and smirked as fighters exploded into ash. That's how the last Diamont would repay the Krikens. A transmission popped up and Spire quickly activated his audio.

"What?" he called, firing more Magcannon shots, destroying more Kriken fighters.

"Use the force, Spire!" The voice called from the other end.

"What?" Spire asked, startled.

"Couldn't resist, Spire. It's Noxus." Noxus said, snickering. "Want help?"

"Sure," Spire agreed as he noticed icy plasma shots firing upon the Kriken fighters and warships from above. The Eternal Justice (what was Noxus thinking when he named that thing? Spire wondered) swooped into the fray, easily blasting the fighters. Spire focused more on the Warships, still dodging the Imperialist shots. Another transmission and Spire flipped the switch.

"Bit busy!" Spire said in annoyance.

"I can see that! We want you alive, but continue to resist and we will destroy you." A kriken voice hissed and Spire paled. An Imperialist shot struck his ship and a warning flashed.

"Shields Critical..."

"Damn!" Spire growled.

"Ready to give up, Diamont?" The kriken sneered.

"Fine..." Spire said sadly. An Imperialist bolt also hit Noxus, who veered off.

"Ah. Both surrendered. Power off your systems and we'll collect you." The kriken laughed coldly.

"Spire?" Noxus' voice said over the comms.

"Yes?" Spire asked.

"May the force be..."

"I told you, human movies will go to your head, Noxus!" Spire snapped, but chuckling regardless.

Kanden and Weavel waited eagerly. The bored kriken that delivered food was making its way to them. Sylux was pretending to be asleep, ready to pounce. A guard followed the food kriken, weapon aimed threateningly at them (as if they didn't know the jamming device was active).

"Here's the grubs!" The kriken said in a bored tone, dropping a tray with rare meat and water on the ground. He started to close the door again, but Sylux lunged forward, swinging his arm cannon, knocking both the guard and the kriken to the ground, seizing their Imperialists. He tossed them to Kanden and Weavel who equipped them eagerly. They raced down the corridor to the warden's room. Then the jamming would be off and they could fight their way to freedom.

They burst through the door and Sylux fired the Shock Coil at the nearest kriken, who screamed in agony as he collapsed to the ground, energy stripped away. The warden raised his Imperialist and fired, the beam striking Sylux and he fell back, clutching his wounded arm. Kanden's Imperialist hit the warden in the head and he fell backwards, eye blank.

Sylux lunged at another kriken, the kriken who had told him to shut up less than half an hour ago, and fired the Coil, laughing as the horrified kriken started to fall to the ground.

"What'd I say, you cursed bug!" Sylux hissed and the kriken gasped and then fell seconds later, smoldering. Kanden and Weavel fired their Imperialists and the last of the guards fell to the red beams, one by one. They continued through the next room and opened fired with Shock Coil, Volt Driver, and Battlehammer, clearing the room out in less than a minute.

More krikens poured into that room, and beams of red energy fired from both sides of the room, accompanied by a blue beam of electricity and mad laughter. After this wave had been beaten, the hunters split up to take out the 3 next rooms. Then they reached the exit, and stepped into the light of liberation. Right into a gang of elite krikens.

"Let's party!" Sylux laughed, and they leapt into action.

Meanwhile, Samus was staring down 3 squads of krikens, each armed with Imperialists.

"Surrender, Samus Aran. You may be good, but you can't beat us all before you fall. Just spare yourself the agony of the battle and death. Just give in and you shall live." The commander sneered. Samus hesitated.

"Open fire!" The second commander bellowed to his troops, and the first commander turned angrily, firing an Imperialist into the idiot commander's chest, who collapsed to the ground.

"The reward is for alive!" The third commander yelled to the dead commander's troops, who immediately ceased firing. Samus ran forward, firing missiles, but Imperialist shots from the commanders struck her legs and she tumbled to the ground, unable to run.

"Take her to the Battlelord!" The commanders ordered some of the troops and she felt darkness close in as a final shot struck her. She had been beaten...she had failed.


	13. Dark Memories

Noxus and Spire were led by armed Krikens to a Warship's prisoner hold. Their ships were also locked in the docking bay.

"Where are we going?" Noxus demanded.

"To the Battlelord, the leader of the planet's forces, and the most powerful Kriken on the planet." The ship's captain sneered. After about 20 minutes, the ship landed at a military base and they were led down a corridor to a door, which was dull in every way, and identical to the other doors they had passed along the way. Inside this room was a single desk with a Kriken, who stared at Spire in cruel interest.

"They're expecting you." The kriken smirked, pointing to the door to the right. Spire and Noxus entered and stopped at the sight. The chamber was massive, and several guards were studying them with interest. Spire scowled. They walked to the desk where a yellow kriken glanced up, then glanced again, followed by staring. Spire, now truly annoyed with the awed staring, gave her a glare, but she rolled her eye, pointing at a door behind her.

Noxus and Spire walked inside. There was a desk and two chairs, and a cloaked, hooded figure had its back to them.

"Sit," hissed the voice of the Battlelord.

"I prefer to stand, really," Spire challenged. The figure turned slowly, and Spire was slightly unnerved by the gleam in the figure's eye as it examined him.

"Spire...the Last Diamont," the voice said with strange amusement.

"Yeah, that's me!" Spire growled aggressively.

"So aggressive...and you have no clue who I am," the figure sneered.

"You're some loser who controls..." Spire began, but Noxus started making slashing motions, indicating Spire should stop talking. Spire fixed Noxus with another frightening look.

"Spire...you're not getting killed...yet." The Battlelord hissed quietly. Spire got a glimpse of an emerald eye. For some reason, it felt like revisiting a nightmare, but he wasn't sure why that was. The Battlelord seemed to be waiting for something. What he was waiting for was clear moments later when guards entered, carrying the limp form of Samus.

"Excellent," The Battlelord hissed. Samus was coming back to consciousness, and she seemed disorientated.

"What...? Where...? Who...? Noxus and Spire? What...?" she stared around wildly and the Battlelord smirked.

"Samus Aran...the legendary Metroid slayer." The Battlelord chuckled and Samus seemed aware of her surroundings now.

"You're the Battlelord?" Samus asked hesitantly. The cloaked Kriken nodded.

"What do you want?" Samus challenged, but the Battlelord raised a claw, chuckling.

"You're the intruder...what do you want? Perhaps seeing if we're invading a Federation planet? We aren't secretive about those objectives, Samus. No, we're not. Not yet, anyway...unless you're here for more than that information. Perhaps taking a look at our research labs?" The Battlelord paused, pleased with Samus' shocked silence. The Battlelord withdrew a file and tossed it to Samus, who stared at it in horror. An exact copy of her mission file.

"One thing, Aran, and you can go. What do these buffoons have to do with the mission?" He gestured to Noxus and Spire.

"They aren't involved," Samus replied, confused.

"Oh? What about Weavel and Kanden?" The Battlelord hissed and Samus looked bewildered. "They weren't involved either?" The Battlelord mocked and Samus shook her head. "I don't believe you, and therefore our bargain is null, and you will be imprisoned and executed as a spy." The Battlelord said coolly, and guards entered and seized Samus, Noxus, and Spire.

"Put the Diamont in a good cell, and Samus in highest security. The Vhozon...will be executed tomorrow by Servu. Reward those responsible for their capture with 25,000 credits for the Vhozon, 200,000 for the Diamont, and a good million for Aran." The Battlelord sneered as the prisoners were dragged away.

Weavel, Kanden, and Sylux finally had broken the defenses of the Kriken prison facility and were exhausted. The Delano 8 swooped down and Sylux saluted them and boarded. _Poison _and Weavel's crafts were still sealed at the Battlelord's building, and somehow they doubted they could contact them. They trudged towards the Kriken city, uncertain of how to proceed from their current positions. Hopefully something would appear in time.

Servu entered the Kriken Labs and flashed an ID to the guard commander who gave him a nod and Servu swiped his ID at the lock, unsealing the main door. He walked with a slight swagger, pleased at how krikens cringed and he overheard one scientist whisper,

"That's the new general. I heard he's a prodigy." He was, however, enraged when he overheard the response.

"Prodigy? I heard that Trace guy's better." Servu's eye twitched angrily. Trace was, to respected Krikens, an idiotic exile who deserved dishonor and death. Servu just hoped he would get to do it. To smile as Trace walked to the wall, staring blankly. To be able to savor the suspense, when Trace would finally die. To take his time while polishing the Imperialist, to slowly point it at the doomed Kriken. To smile triumphantly as he zoomed in and then chuckle as he pulled the trigger. To see the beam pierce Trace's body, and savor the look of pain and sorrow upon Trace's face as he breathed his last. Servu was so enraptured by the daydream, he nearly bumped into the sealed door to the Limited Access Labs. He swiped his ID and entered. He approached the head scientist.

"Progress Report!" Servu snapped. The scientist ignored him a moment before replying.

"Oh, hello General Servu." He glared at her while she smiled sweetly. "It's in the next room. Do you need anything explained?" she asked. He nodded curtly and she smiled sweetly again. How he hated these female scientists.

"This is the production room, where we work on fabricating the ultimate defensive armor. Eventually, we intend to have it be the same color as the kriken wearing it, or transparent. So far, we have had no success as the characteristics of the armor are so advanced that we have not been able to change the color without altering the positive characteristics." She said, gesturing to an odd machine.

"What are the characteristics?" Servu asked, trying to hide the fact he didn't understand what the project was about.

"Immunity to most weaponry, and increased offensive abilities." She replied promptly, smiling sweetly.

"The downsides?" Servu asked. She hesitated.

"Increased aggression, and therefore, mood swings." she replied. Servu considered this a moment.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"We have been able to counter the increased aggression portion, but it decreases the offensive characteristics." she replied.

"How does increased offenses work?" Servu asked. For once, the head scientist was unsure.

"We think it has to do with the material it's made of. We haven't been able to identify it, and replicating it is difficult." she admitted. Servu pondered this.

"What color?" Servu asked, regardless of the unimportance of the answer.

"Black." she replied softly, pressing a button. A display case appeared and a full-bodied black armor appeared. "We just finished a helmet that shares the defensive traits of the rest of the armor. This has been perfectly designed for Kriken use." she explained. Servu studied it and suddenly felt his mind leap backwards over two months ago. He remembered everything as vividly as when it happened.

_Servu had just finished the last training exercise, and had a perfect score. Everyone was whispering about how he was a natural, and could be the greatest kriken warrior alive. _

_"Except for Trace." one added. Servu ignored this and was walking home when he stumbled on a rock. _

_"Was that on purpose?" a cold voice had sneered, but Servu couldn't see the speaker. _

_"Who's there?" he had demanded. _

_"I'm in the shadows, Servu. I am the Dark Hunter. I lead the Dark League, a group of elite hunters. I only allow the elite, and I came here looking for Trace. You know him?" the Dark Hunter sneered, stepping forward. He wore pure-black armor, and all his features seemed blurred and waxy. Servu had recoiled slightly, then scowled. _

_"Trace is in exile. Good riddance." Servu snapped. _

_"My, how volatile you are. Jealousy is natural, since after all...you're better. Trace is weak next to you, Servu. You got better test scores, you possess more natural abilities, and train regularly. He got exiled because his brother was high up, and is currently Battlelord. To become truly strong, you must use the rage. Anger is power. Always remember, Servu, rage is power. Either you can use it, or you're too weak to use it. No matter the excuses. If you don't or can't use rage for power, you're weak." The Dark Hunter looked at Servu in disgust and Servu felt his anger bubbling. _

_"I'm not weak!" Servu bellowed. _

_"Then prove it!" The Dark Hunter laughed and the world seemed to spin, until they seemed like they were floating in space. The Dark Hunter waited and Servu fired his Imperialist, ready to battle. The Dark Hunter fired his own weapon, which shot a jet of black goo. The projectiles collided, and Servu felt afraid. _

_The Dark Hunter smirked and Servu felt his beam weaken, geting pushed back by the goo._

_"Rage is power...use the rage..." The words echoed in Servu's mind and as he focused, Trace's image burned into his mind. His beam pushed the goo back towards the Dark Hunter, who grinned maliciously. As the red beam was on the verge of defeating the goo, the Dark Hunter allowed the beam to hit. Servu smirked, and then gasped. The Dark Hunter was completely unharmed. _

_"How...?" Servu sputtered as the world seemed to return to normal. _

_"Dark Armor is the most powerful armor in the universe. It's immune to all weaponry, and if you headshot me, it reflects if I activate the function. I normally don't since it doesn't hurt me anyway. It has a cost, but anyone who is strong won't care!" The Dark Hunter seemed to fade and vanish completely, and Servu stared. _

_"Dark...Armor...?" he wondered. _

Servu snapped back to reality, and noticed the head scientist glancing at him. According to the time, he had been distracted for about 10 seconds. He examined the black suit.

"Dark Armor?" Servu mused.

"We noticed one side effect, General. It bonds with the wearer. Prolonged use makes it harder to remove. The longer you wear it, the more dependant you are on it. So if you fully bond with it...it will kill you to remove it for longer than a minute. It also repairs itself from heavy damage, although the odds of that are next to 0. We don't understand how it works, and therefore have not mass-produced it. This is the only prototype." she said.

"Do you have some of the material?" Servu asked.

"Yes, but it's even more dangerous, but fascinating. Anyone who touches it could bond with it instantly. It can then form and reform to create a full armored suit. However, you are unable to control it as easily as the regular suit. All in all, the material could cause damage, since it bonds with the brain, and is thought controlled. We have that sealed in the vault," she explained. Servu nodded.

"So the material can make suits without actual work?" Servu asked.

"Theoretically. However, then the user will slowly become more impulsive..." she began, but Servu cut her off.

"Thank you. I would like a small sample of the material for personal study." Servu said. The scientist stared and then sighed.

"Be careful with it..." she nearly begged. Servu ignored her, but nodded all the same. He wondered what other abilities the 'Dark Armor' possessed...


	14. Jailbreak

Noxus paced, frustrated. He, Spire, and Samus were all imprisoned in separate cells which seemed to be jamming both weapons and alt-forms. Noxus was scheduled to be executed in about 12 hours and he knew his odds of escaping were slim without outside help. He sighed and continued pacing, thinking hard about how to escape.

_So weak, Vhozon..._a voice in Noxus' head sneered and Noxus brushed the thought away. Even after death, the Dark Hunter's thought planting hadn't fully faded, but it would in time. Noxus studied the cell carefully. Perhaps there was some form of escape tunnel that could be made...he examined the bricks can noticed a loose one. He removed it eagerly, but saw solid bricks behind them.

"Figures..." Noxus sighed, about to replace the brick. He hesitated. The brick might be a good weapon to help him escape...he smiled slightly. A plan was beginning to form...

Meanwhile, Servu was returning to the Battlelord's office. He had been contacted and told to arrive in person. Servu placed the Dark Material in his ship's safe. It wouldn't be too long before he could examine it.

He rushed into the 'lobby' and the yellow secretary glanced at him with a hint of revulsion. While Servu wasn't very popular, he deserved respect and he gave her a dark look, which she mirrored with a smirk. Servu entered the Battlelord's room.

"Yes, my lord?" Servu hissed. The Battlelord studied him for a moment and gestured for him to sit. Servu did so, feeling anxious.

"Status on the prototype?" The Battlelord asked, a hint of a sneer upon his cloaked face. His emerald eye gleamed and Servu handed him a report. After a few minutes, the Battlelord placed the report to the side.

"Very well. We have had a series of intruders lately. You are scheduled to do the execution of the Vhozon, Noxus." Servu blinked. "Recognize the name, Servu?" the Battelord asked quietly.

"He registered for the Archives and he was present when I attacked the Last Diamont. Samus and a terrorist arrived to save the Vhozon." Servu replied. The Battlelord looked surprised.

"Terrorist? Who?" He asked, eye narrowed.

"Sylux, I think." Servu responded.

"Interesting..." The Battlelord mused. He considered a moment, then shrugged. "You will personally go to the prison and bring the Vhozon here. Then the final decision will be reached. Dismissed, General." Servu nodded and left, feeling irritated.

Noxus heard footsteps and readied himself for his surprise escape. He clutched the brick in his fist, and struggled to appear sad, lost, or defeated. 3 kriken guards passed his cell, ignoring him. Noxus looked through the bars and saw them heading to the high security wing. He glanced at the time. Someone's idea of a joke was to have the timer count backwards.

It had started at 24:00 and was at this point 8:12. 8 hours 12 minutes to execution time. Noxus scowled and waited.

Servu walked to the main prison gate. He was annoyed sheerly because he couldn't examine the Dark Material while running errands. He entered the gate and spoke briefly to the warden, who nodded and allowed him access.

Servu walked down the corridor, unescorted and found the cell that housed the foolish Vhozon. The Vhozon appeared defeated and looked at him with a weak expression. Servu smiled cruelly and waited until Noxus' eyes widened.

"You!" Noxus hissed, all trace of defeat lost. Servu grinned and pressed a button. The cell opened and Servu kept his distance, in case Noxus attempted to punch him. While weapons were disabled, close combat would help Noxus more than Servu. He moved to adjust a jammer setting.

"Imperialists on." Servu muttered to himself, half-forgetting Noxus was there. Unless the Vhozon had an Imperialist, it wouldn't help. He raised his weapon at Noxus and barked, "Move, you filth!" Noxus hesitated and slowly walked forward, then froze, staring at something behind Servu.

Servu glanced back just for a second and turned back, but the distraction was all Noxus needed. He flung the brick with great force, which Servu reacted to immediately by ducking, but the brick bounced off the wall and hit Servu, who groaned, rubbing his back. Noxus leapt forward, swinging his foot around, hitting Servu in the face. Servu slammed into the wall and Noxus wrenched the Imperialist from Servu.

Servu looked taken aback, but Noxus raced down the hallway towards the high-security wing. Servu withdrew a second Imperialist and fired after him, which shattered bricks above Noxus' head, raining gravel upon him. Noxus fired back, and Servu dodged to the side. When Servu poked out again, Noxus was gone. Servu cursed and raced down the hall, wary of ambushes. He burst through the door to the high security wing and fired at the retreating Vhozon. Noxus fired back, the beam missing Servu by an inch.

Servu fired again, and Noxus dodged to the side. Noxus continued heading down the hallway as Servu fired, but Noxus was excellent at dodging. Noxus fired with near perfect accuracy, and Servu was equally good at dodging those shots. Noxus abruptly changed his pattern, and fired at Servu's feet.

Servu leapt into the air, and a second beam struck the ceiling, a large stone falling on him. Servu blocked it with his arm, and turned to shoot at Noxus, but he had vanished. Startled, he walked forward, watchful for signs of an ambush. He passed a high-security cell and glanced at the prisoner inside.

"Hello!" Samus said with a laugh. Servu looked puzzled and a beam of red struck him in the chest, causing him to stagger into the cell release button and the door slid open, Samus lunging out, barreling her shoulder into Servu, shoving him into the stone wall. She thrust her arm into his head and he fell to the ground. She hurried after Noxus towards the Special Security Cell. Samus found Noxus deactivating the locks to Spire's cell.

"You might need this!" Samus called, tossing the ID she took from Servu. Noxus smiled and slid the ID in the last lock, and the cell slid open. Spire hurried out, grinning broadly.

"Only Imperialists are enabled." Noxus whispered and Spire shrugged, having no Imperialist at that time.

"That creepy Kriken, Servu, is our opposition." Noxus explained and the 3 hunters hastily returned to the other prison corridor. Servu was back on his feet, and also 5 kriken guards had joined the fight.

"Ready?" Samus whispered. Both nodded and they rushed into the fray, even as more guards flooded into the room.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	15. Memories of Enmity

Samus fired the Imperialist at the flood of guards entering the moderately narrow prison hallway. She dodged the web of beams flying back at her, and she ducked behind a stone pillar. Noxus was also battling the heavily armed guards, and Spire was trying to be invisible. Noxus threw Servu's ID to Spire, who slid the ID in the security controls and deactivated Imperialists and reactivated Judicator and Magmaul.

Grinning, Noxus and Spire blasted the guards, who were baffled at the sudden disabling of their weapons. Samus joined in using her own Judicator, but even then, guards continued to flood inside, using their Triskelions to try to attack. Samus was struck by 3 Triskelions and knocked to the ground, weakened. Noxus charged his Judicator and fired down, freezing all the krikens using his Shadow Freeze. Samus scrambled back to her feet and the 3 raced towards the exit, slamming all krikens in the way.

In the warden's office, Spire's Magmaul emptied the room, and Samus hit a lockdown switch, sealing off the door from the high security chamber, sealing perhaps half the guards they had fought. They hurried back out of the complex, exhausted.

"Thanks, guys!" Spire panted.

"One question...we're still trapped here since our ships are being watched." Noxus said. Samus activated a control to summon her own ship.

"Except mine. I had my ship drop me off before beginning my mission." she explained as they boarded the ship. "So...what happened to you guys?" she asked, piloting her ship towards the Kriken city. It didn't take long for them to tell their story of the attack on the Kriken Warships.

"What I want to know, it why all the hunters are here. Let's figure that out. Is Trace here?" Samus asked. They shrugged.

"Even if Trace was here, he failed his exile so he'd be killed, right?" Spire asked.

"Unless he has something else. The Battlelord had my mission file, so Trace must have delivered that to the Kriken Empire. Somehow, a file on an espionage mission isn't such a priority compared to the exile, but I'm not familar on Kriken rules." Samus mused.

"I came to investigate whether the Krikens control Vho. Trace said they don't care. That much is true." Noxus explained.

"I came to investigate the ruin of the Diamonts. It's like Trace told me." Spire admitted. "I came to see if the Krikens were planning an invasion." Samus said.

"Why were Weavel and Kanden here?" Spire asked. Samus considered.

"Me. Sylux, Weavel, and Kanden were tracing me. My ship has just determined I have a tracer on me. Stupid stealth tracers." Samus said with annoyance.

Meanwhile, Servu had returned to his ship and set up a small lab. He examined part of the sample of Dark Material.

"Fascinating..." he muttered. Abandoning caution, he held it in his claws. Almost immediately, the material stuck to him.

"What?" Servu hissed, trying to pry it off, but it seemed to stretch and cover more of him. He fired his Imperialist at the mass, but it had no effect. He didn't even feel the beam!

"The armor is nearly invincible...but I've got to get it off!" Servu nearly moaned, struggling to rip the material off. It continued to stretch and envelop him until his torso was completely covered. It was now a full-bodied armored vest. It covered his arms as well, and he smiled. Other than his head, he was invincible.

It gave him a sense of invincibility he knew would go to his head. _Who cares? Knowing the limits of the armor is the first step. Then I'll use it to kill Trace!_ Servu thought to himself. The thought of Trace seemed to make his blood boil. He could still remember everything, all too vividly. The day he met Trace, and everything that happened since then.

It was almost 10 years ago, when Servu was young. He had just entered the prestigious Kriken Army Camp, where he would be trained to be a warrior. The strongest warrior would, in a few years, get the honor of the rite of passage. Servu had passed all his exams with high scores and was ranked 3rd of all students, and 2nd of the newcomers. Trace, miraculously, was ranked #1 in the history of all students.

Although Servu was impressed, he felt no hostility, knowing that with training, he could exceed Trace. Trace and Servu trained together often, and Servu remained impressed of Trace's abilities. However, Servu could never seem to outscore Trace on anything, and this frustration made him the stereotypical grudging #2. Trace's training sessions were watched by Servu constantly, who was determined to master everything just as efficiently as Trace.

For the most part they were equals, but Servu was the only red kriken 'born prodigy', and he wanted to prove it. Trace was very talented, but Servu was a natural master. This made being #2 even worse, as he was expected to be #1.

Trace's brother, Drek, was the previous #1 in the history of the camp at the end of his training, something Trace had beaten when he was a newcomer. The difference was that Drek was a venom kriken, another natural prodigy. Servu received no symphathy from Drek, except a slight mock about how Servu needed to earn status, rather than expect it.

"Look, Servu...if I turned out to be anything less than the best, I would be an insult to the venom krikens and probably killed. You're lucky in one way...you can't make the red krikens look worse, and a yellow eye make you look less intimidating. I was double-lucky. Venom color and emerald eye, being a natural and learned prodigy...what else do I need?"

Clearly...Drek was not going to be much help, and Servu had been further reminded of how Trace outdid him at every turn. Before graduation, Servu finally scored perfect scores on both his written and practical exams. He had gloated about it for about an hour until Trace left his exam room with a perfect score on his practical exam and a 101 on his written, having seen the extra credit question and answering it correctly.

Servu's temper broke, and they engaged in a very intense duel at the virtual room. Servu's years of studying Trace had paid off, as he seemed able to counter all of Trace's maneuvers with ease, but Trace was able to do the same to him. They seemed evenly matched, and Servu truly believed he could outdo Trace. However, while they were unable to do significant damage to each other, Servu was tiring.

Trace seemed as full of energy as ever, and his shots and dodges were still flawless. Servu's years of training to counter and mimic Trace were still working, but Trace had abruptly changed his pattern, and Servu was caught by a lucky shot. He had fallen to the ground, knowing he had lost. Trace had walked over and congratulated him on a terrific fight. Even though Trace had been kind enough, Servu couldn't stand being second to anyone. Prodigies were meant to be the best!

"You'll pay for this humiliation, Trace!" Servu had hissed. Their official enmity had begun there, although Trace really didn't understand Servu's problem. After that moment, Servu obsessed over defeating Trace, and trained so hard on mastering all of Trace's and Drek's techniques and merging them with his own techniques.

When he emerged from his training, he was consumed by his hatred with Trace. He was nominated for the honor of the exile, which he accepted. Trace, he learned later, was also nominated. Drek was fascinated by this, since he had been exiled when he was really young, when he was about 11. He was the one who helped conquer the Diamonts. Servu and Trace were scheduled to duel, and it was a tougher duel than before since Trace had done the impossible.

Like Servu, he had studied Drek's techniques and merged them with his own. He also had studied Servu's tactics, admitting him as a true rival. Servu struggled to keep Trace off-balance by shifting tactics, but Trace seemed to counter them even easier and ultimately defeated Servu with ease. Servu asked what he had done wrong, and Trace kindly explained that Servu's strategy shifts were clumsy and were performed poorly.

Servu took this as a great insult and vowed to defeat Trace. The only joy to Servu had been that Drek had caught a fatal virus, and that upon Drek's death, Servu would be next in line for the Battlelord title. Unfortunately for Servu, a cure was found, and Drek got the title. Servu was shunted into registration, where he continued to train for another year, perfecting his tactics.

Trace had always outdone him, and now Trace had one fatal dishonor. He had not completed the exile, and could finally be seen as the fraud he was. Trace was lucky because of flukes...not skill. Servu intended to prove this by killing Trace. No matter what, Servu would make Trace lose everything, and Servu would claim what he deserved. Honor, glory, and status.

Trace had stolen those for too long, and Servu's new Dark Armor would help him claim those. Servu stored the rest of the Dark Material in his safe, and landed at the Kriken city. It would be time to show the Empire that the real master was Servu, not the filthy exile who failed.


	16. Duel with a Demon

Trace was still lounging near the Kriken city when he saw the _Kriken Assassin_ fly past.

"Great...another visit from Mr. Jolly." Trace mused. However, he sensed a strange feeling as the ship landed. The reason became clear seconds later. Servu had a typical demonic grin on his face, but he was wearing a familar black armor.

"Damn...Dark Armor..." Trace whispered.

"Hello, Trace!" Servu hissed, pleased at Trace's unease.

"Where'd you get that?" Trace asked, pointing at the armor.

"Jealous?" Servu mocked.

"No. That stuff is dangerous! If you don't get rid of it, you'll die!" Trace insisted, but Servu laughed.

"So weak! This is true power...and invincibility! It's only a danger to my enemies...and how convenient...you're one of them!" Servu fired his Imperialist, and Trace dodged, firing back. As he feared, the beam had no effect on Servu, who chuckled coldly and fired again. Trace morphed to Triskelion and lunged, striking Servu and knocking him back, but doing no damage at all.

Servu's laugh became more manic than before and he fired again, striking the Triskelion effortlessly. Trace returned to biped, staggering a bit, but firing again, this time at Servu's unarmored head. The armor stretched and blocked the beam, but Servu still stumbled backwards.

"You've lost, exile...it's all over!" Servu hissed, firing again. Trace ducked just in time, and crouched behind a stone pillar by a fountain. It would take Servu two shots to break this, Trace thought. However, the red beam blasted the pillar to bits with one shot, and Trace cursed his luck. Servu was wearing Dark Armor and nothing could break the armor unless it wasn't on long. He fired the Omega Cannon, but Servu had anticipated this and ducked behind a pillar.

Trace fired an Imperialist at the pillar, weakening it, but not enough. The blast went off, creating a miniature dust storm from the shockwave. Trace swore in annoyance. Of all people he would want to receive Dark Armor, Servu was at the bottom, next to Samus. Trace was safe from the blast from the remnants of his pillar. Another beam of light shattered the remains of the pillar. Trace fired back towards Servu, but the beam did nothing against the armor.

"Give up, exile! You're weak next to me!" Servu hissed, firing again.

"Shut up, Servu!" Trace spat. Servu's yellow eye glinted maliciously and another beam narrowly missed Trace.

"Dodge all you want, exile. You'll die by my hand one way or another!" Servu laughed. Trace fired back, trying to distract Servu. It failed, because Servu didn't care where the beam hit, since he was invincible.

This gave Trace an idea and he fired towards the balcony of the cafe where their battle was in front of. One support pillar exploded and the balcony, positioned over Servu's head, teetered slightly. Servu didn't notice, but continued firing upon Trace. Another shot shattered the middle support pillar, and a large boulder tumbled onto Servu, who grunted in minor pain and fired regardless. The beam struck Trace in the leg and he collapsed.

"Good bye, exile!" Servu whispered coldly and fired his last beam. As his finger tightened, a plasma burst hit the last pillar, and the balcony collapsed. It landed in front of Servu, blocking the beam, and only a few boulders hit Servu, who looked around in shock.

"Nice try, ugly!" Sylux's voice sneered as he dropped from the Delano 8.

"Thanks, Sylux." Trace whispered.

"Oh, you owe me big now!" Sylux laughed and fired his Shock Coil at Servu, who ignored the shot altogether.

"So weak...best you can do, terrorist?" Servu whispered, firing the Imperialist into Sylux's chest, and he collapsed to the ground, twitching.

"See why I'm the best?" Servu hissed to Sylux and aimed his Imperialist at Sylux's head. A sudden plasma shot struck the ground behind Servu, and he was thrown off balance, his beam striking the ground. He glared at the sky and saw Samus' gunship flying overhead, depositing Samus, Noxus, and Spire. Servu grinned at the sight of the Last Diamont and fired at him. He was perfect, as always, and Spire dropped to the ground, dead.

Servu blinked and saw his beam had actually missed Spire altogether, but it was a close miss. Spire rolled into Dialanche and charged Servu.

"SPIRE! NO!" Trace screamed, unsure of why he was warning Spire. Servu dodged the giant boulder by leaping into the air, flipping acrobatically and firing down, knocking Spire into a wall. He landed gracefully and fired his Imperialist for a fatal shot.

A beam flew from behind Servu, striking him in the head, the armor doing a minor shield in time, knocking his shot off again. He whirled around, ready to kill the one who interfered, and then recoiled in horror.

"Drek!" he spat in fury. Drek stood only 10 yards from Trace, a look of fury upon his face, the hood of his Battlelord robes off, revealing his emerald eye.

"Bro?" Trace whispered. Then Spire yelled in agony, feeling the world spinning.

_He was confused as to what was going on, but his mind traveled into a fuzzy view of a pleasantly warm planet, and he lay beneath a blanket, awoken by screams and the sounds of injured Diamonts. He raised his head, blinking curiously at the area around him. It was his house, and his parents were moving, shouting at someone. _

_A beam of red light hit his mother, who dropped without a sound. His father ran at the source of the beam, and 4 beams, one after another struck his dad, who fell backwards. Another beam flew, but it hit him in the stomach. He was then aware of a strange sensation. It reminded him of hunger, but it hurt more. _

_He crawled over to his parents and whispered, "Is this a dweam? I'm hungwy. What's gowing on?" His dad whispered something, but Spire didn't understand. _

_Why was his dad saying, "We love you...be strong...good-bye..."? Spire grunted and looked at his stomach, which was throbbing painfully. _

_"You'll be alright, kid...but one day, you will die!" The intruder sneered. There was a glint of green from the intruder's eye and a swish of material as Spire was stuffed into a sack. Then all went black._

Spire snapped back to the present, staring at the venom green kriken with the emerald eye. It was him...Trace's brother. The one who had slaughtered his parents, and spared him for the chance of glory.

"You!" Spire hissed. The kriken called Drek looked at Spire with cold amusement.

"Hmmm? I'll deal with your issue after Servu! Now _General_..." Drek began, adopting a sarcastic tone to Servu, who leered back. "I believe I told you to leave the Diamont and Trace alone, did I not? Consider yourself fired, and possibly executed for multiple crimes. Behave, and we can avoid that fate. Ironically, I'd give Trace the honor." Drek continued, and Servu paled.

Spire glared at Drek, feeling a surge of fury, but he backed up into the shadows, working his way towards the _Kriken Assassin_, an idea forming in his mind...


	17. Spire's Revenge part 1

Spire's absence was unnoticed at first, but Noxus had seen him go, and had followed, curious as to where Spire was going. To Noxus' shock, Spire was heading towards Servu's ship!

"What is he doing?" Noxus asked himself.

"I don't know!" Noxus responded.

"Should I go find out?" Noxus asked.

"First stop talking to yourself." Noxus scolded. Noxus chuckled to himself and hurried after Spire. Spire slid into the ship and Noxus hastened to follow. Spire was at Servu's safe and was trying to break the code.

"Hmm...what would that creep use as a code?" Spire was muttering.

"Spire? What are you doing?" Noxus asked cautiously. Spire gave him another of his frightening looks and Noxus flinched. 3 in less than 2 days...and now Spire was breaking into a safe? Noxus came closer and studied the safe.

"Try this...Dietrace!" Noxus said, typing in the code. To no one's surprise, that was indeed the code. Spire pushed Noxus aside and opened the door and took out two large vials, each filled with a black sludge.

"What is that?" Noxus wondered.

"Dark Armor, what do you think?" Spire snapped, opening one.

"DON'T!" Noxus yelled trying to grab the vial. The result was shocking, at least to Noxus. First, the black sludge latched onto to Spire, secondly, Spire lashed with his fist and struck Noxus in the face, knocking him into the nearby wall. Stunned, Noxus tried to make sense of what just happened.

Spire grinned at him, as if to say, "You got what you deserved." Noxus shook his head to clear it and watched as the sludge expanded, creating armor in the shape of Spire's body.

Spire watched with glee, his eyes no longer gentle, but burning red. Noxus felt a thrill of terror he couldn't explain. He didn''t even register the truth yet. Spire was being corrupted by Dark Armor, which apparently fed on anger and hate.

"What have you done?" Noxus whispered. The armored Diamont laughed as he received his thrill of power.

"That's better!" Spire sneered demonically. Noxus' eyes widened in horror. Spire advanced on him, grabbing Noxus by the throat.

"Why, Spire?" Noxus whispered, almost pleadingly.

"Revenge! That filthy scum killed the Diamonts, and I'll avenge them by killing him!" Spire sneered, flinging Noxus across the room with incredible strength. Noxus slammed into another wall and slumped, too weak to stand.

"Filthy Vhozon...stay out of my way if you know what's good for you!" Spire hissed.

"Spire...we were friends..." Noxus pleaded. Spire laughed coldly.

"Friends? We can never be friends, Vhozon...my only friends were Diamonts! Not filthy vermin Vhozons!" Spire sneered.

"There are no other Diamonts Spire, and killing the one behind it won't bring them back!" Noxus cried. Spire's eyes burned brighter.

"Shut up! You can never understand! The Diamonts must be avenged! Then they can rest at last!" Spire raged.

"Then you'll be like Sylux. Consumed by hatred and evil! Or like Kanden, seeking to destroy! Or Weavel, who can only try to kill the ones who wronged him! You'll have no purpose in life!" Noxus spat. Spire considered him for a moment and then laughed, a truly frightening laugh.

"And they're stronger than you! So shut up or I'll help you do it!" Spire threatened. Noxus felt a wave of despair that was linked to the realization that Spire had changed. Dark Armor fed off your thoughts of hate and anger. Noxus thought he had understood Spire's grief and anger...but apparently he had been wrong. Spire wasn't righteous. Not anymore. Now he was consumed by anger and hate, and the Dark Armor just made it worse.

Now Spire's sense of control was gone, replaced by power. Noxus could only watch as Spire left the ship, sealing Noxus inside.

Servu scowled at Drek. Who cared what the Battlelord thought? Servu should have been the Battlelord, and Drek stole it from him by surviving! If Drek had died, then Trace would have died. Drek was the source of Servu's problems.

He considered firing his Imperialist and killing Drek, but if he missed, he'd die. Drek was so much stronger than Trace...Servu glanced behind him and froze.

"The Diamont is gone!" Servu bellowed. Drek looked around in shock. Samus and Sylxu seemed to have noticed both Spire and Noxus were gone.

"Hey...what's going on?" Kanden called, appearing around the corner, than gasped.

"Dark Armor...?" Weavel whispered, looking horror struck. They weren't looking at Servu. Samus felt a strange tingle of terror before a strange black boulder appeared.

"Spire?" Samus gasped. Sylux looked frightened, a rare occurence.

"He's been exposed to Dark Armor!" Sylux moaned. Spire fired his Magmaul, but even that had changed. Rather than simple burst of magma, it fired a darker ball of fire.

"Darkfire?" Kanden breathed.

"What?" Weavel asked, puzzled.

"Darkfire is a flame that is significantly more powerful than regular magma. It was placed in a Magmaul weapon and produced horrifying results. Scientists promptly discontinued the research since it was too powerful. It can only be utilized when the user is so filled with power that the Magmaul overloads. I studied it myself before being mutated!" Kanden explained.

"So...Drek, is it?" Spire growled, and Samus flinched at how cruel and hateful Spire sounded.

"Name hasn't changed, Spire." Drek retorted.

"You killed my parents!" Spire hissed.

"Guilty as charged, Diamont!" Drek sneered.

"Then DIE!" Spire lunged forward, firing a ball of Darkfire, which Drek dodged with ease.

"Trained up yet? It'll make ending your life worth the wait!" Drek mocked, firing an Imperialist shot, but Spire neutralized the shot with Darkfire.

"I'm going to kill you!" Spire raged, firing more Darkfire, which Drek dodged by leaping 20 feet into the air, significantly higher than Servu could, Dark Armor or not. Spire fired rapid fire Darkfire, cackling evilly, but Drek dodged the shots in midair and fired a bolt that struck Spire's head, and he collapsed.

Drek landed so gracefully there wasn't even a sound. Servu watched, insides burning with rage. How dare that Diamont steal a sample of Dark Armor. At least Drek would die, and Trace next. Then, Servu would kill Spire and claim the glory and claim the Battlelord title. Servu snickered and walked back to his ship. He must secure the last sample of Dark Armor, so no one else would get it.

Drek was at the top of his game, dodging the Diamont's attacks as effortlessly as picking up a feather. His own Imperialist shots were always perfectly aimed, but half were neutralized by Darkfire, the rest did no damage due to that cursed Dark Armor. Trace was watching with amusement, as Drek was so skilled that Trace himself was impressed.

Trace was the only Kriken in history to outscore Drek at anything. Of course, Trace was trained by Drek at a young age. The Dark Armor Spire wore was starting to fascinate Drek. The prototype at the Kriken Labs was better than the Armor Spire and Servu wore, and the armor was amplifying their abilities.

Drek fired another red beam, which cracked Spire's armor. Of course...the armor was stronger the longer it was worn. Spire had been wearing his for maybe 5 minutes. Drek watched as the armor resealed itself.

"Not so easy is it, Drek? Thought you'd exterminate the Diamonts that easily?" Spire raged, lunging at Drek, who flipped easily over the startled Diamont.

"You can't beat me, Spire." Drek said, dodging another attack effortlessly. "At least make me work to kill you!" Drek mocked.

Spire's eyes burned a brighter red. "I'm just getting warmed up! When I'm done...you'll die!"

TO BE CONTINUED...


	18. Spire's Revenge part 2

Spire and Drek circled, each glaring at the other. Spire raised his weapon and fired more bursts of Darkfire, but Drek dodged easily. Drek scowled as Spire continued to fire inaccurately. Drek fired 3 perfect shots, and Spire was knocked to the ground, his armor slightly cracked. Drek fired as fast as possible, hitting the crack perfectly. The crack grew larger, but Spire chuckled darkly as the armor began to repair itself.

"Time to die, kriken filth!" Spire roared, firing Darkfire. Drek was struck by this flame and fell to the ground, in obvious agony, but recovered quickly.

"Is that the best you got, Diamont?" Drek hissed. Spire was taken aback, but then chuckled.

"You want my best? Then take this!" Spire released a charged burst, which was a single Darkfire ball that lobbed, then shattered into 8 separate balls, firing in different directions. Drek leapt up into the air and fired, striking Spire's head. Although the armor survived the impact, Spire was minorly injured. The pain made him mad, and he could feel a new throb of power flow through him.

"Thanks!" Spire hissed, rolling forward in Dark Dialanche, his dark blades spinning continuously. Such an improvement over his lava blades, which only spun briefly. The dark blades were more like the Vhoscythe. Drek flipped over the Dark Dialanche and fired the Imperialist. The Dialanche absorbed the blow easily and Trace watched in horror as the dark blades slashed Drek, throwing him to the ground.

Drek leapt up nimbly and dodged the blades again. Trace fired a missile at the Dialanche, and Drek smirked. Seconds later, Spire was forced back to biped thanks to the Alt-Disabling Missile. Spire turned on Trace.

"Die! No one interferes with me!" Spire raged, swinging his massive fists.

"Don't make me hurt you, Rock-boy!" Trace mocked, easily ducking and darting out of range of the fists. Drek watched this for about 30 seconds before firing his Imperialist, striking Spire's head. Spire yelled in pain, and red-hot anger boiled within him. He fired a massive ball of Darkfire, which Drek ducked with ease. The ball hit the cafe and a huge explosion ripped from the blast, demolishing the entire cafe.

Trace froze in shock. Kriken buildings had incredible durability. Drek's gaze hardened, and he fired again, hitting the Magmaul, temporarily shorting it out. The Dark Armor would repair the weapon in a matter of moments.

Samus watched the battle, horror-struck at the anger and destruction that was being caused. Weavel watched with amusement, and Kanden was reclining in a portable chair, munching from a bowl of popcorn he had gotten from somewhere.

"We should be selling tickets!" Weavel whispered. Trace glared at them from about 40 yards away. Samus also gave them a dirty look. Drek actually chuckled when he saw the popcorn. Spire ignored them all together, focusing only on killing Drek.

More balls of Darkfire, but Drek dodged effortlessly, laughing. Furious, Spire fired again and again, but Drek ducked, rolled, jumped, and dodged so quickly the shots never came near him. Trace was impressed. It was clear proof why Drek was the Battlelord.

Spire roared in fury and lunged again swinging his massive fist, but Drek morphed to his Triskelion, which was an impressive venom-green and lunged several times in succession, slashing Spire with razor claws. Spire groaned at each hit and Drek hissed in triumph, striking as fast as a cobra.

Spire fell to the ground and Drek returned to biped, firing a final shot at Spire. Spire grunted and was still. Drek smirked and kicked the Diamont aside. Spire glared at the venom kriken with a hatred that seemed to become more intense with every second.

_You give up when you should be at your strongest...your last act must be to fight. Better to die fighting than to give up..._The voice in Spire's head mocked. _So weak...the Last Diamont falling at the hands of his foe..._Spire focused on his hate of Drek, of Trace, of all Krikens.

_Use the rage..._He felt an incredible surge of energy and launched himself to his feet.

"Drek, look out!" Trace shouted as Spire raised his Darkmaul, and fired his burst of Darkfire. Drek reacted faster than Spire thought possible, and ducked, firing his Imperialist into Spire's chest. Spire chuckled and his eyes burned brighter than ever.

"Hey, Trace! Help me out here!" Drek called, dodging a punch. Trace understood and hesitated, glancing at Samus, Weavel, Sylux, and Kanden, all who had turned to stare at him.

"Get back, Drek!" Trace said. Spire lunged forward and Drek morphed to Triskelion, lunging viciously. Spire struggled to crush the venom Triskelion, but to no avail. Drek was too fast. He felt the armor crack, and begin to break. He knew the Triskelion wasn't strong enough to break the armor entirely, and he raised his fist, timing it to crush the Triskelion.

A sudden flash of light, and pain shot through the crack in his armor like a virus, and he screamed in agony. He had failed his task...and he curled up, defending his weak point from the blast. Then it was gone.

The light faded and he was alone. There was no one around. He crouched, panting as the pain vanished. The Dark Armor struggled to reform quickly and Spire stared around, amused at the amount of destruction caused. Drek and Trace hadn't seen the last of him. He would kill them both, then use the Omega Cannon to destroy the Kriken Empire.

Trace had made a mistake in revealing the survival of the Ultimate Power...and Spire would kill him for it. The creature that had once been Spire cackled malevolently and turned to seek his victim. He sensed that he knew exactly where to find them. The Kriken Labs...

Samus saw the golden orb erupt from Trace's cannon and nearly screamed. "NO WAY!" Kanden yelled, diving behind the chair he had been reclining on. Sylux signaled the Delano 8 and had it beam up Samus, Weavel, Kanden, and himself. They rose into the air, higher and higher. They saw the flash from a safe height, and stared in amazement.

"How the hell did Trace have that?" Sylux demanded. Everyone looked at Samus, and she was lost for words.

"I thought I destroyed it..." she whispered.

"During your duel?" Kanden asked. She nodded, still staring.

"He kept swapping weapons..." Weavel whispered.

"Huh?" The others said.

"Remember, Trace kept swapping weapons! After shooting the Omega Cannon, he could have swapped weapons! Then you destroyed whatever weapon he had equipped." Weavel said excitedly.

"So then he was content to admit defeat...you'd think the Cannon was destroyed, while he walked away with the greater prize...the Ultimate Power!" Sylux said, half-amused, half-nervous.

"So that's why he came back...to deliver it to the Krikens!" Samus whispered. They all exchanged glances.

"By the way...where's Noxus?" Samus asked. Silence.

"I didn't see him the entire duel with Spire and Drek...I saw him not long after Drek came...but never saw him since." Sylux said.

"I hope he's okay..." Samus whispered.


	19. The Path of Justice

Noxus was frantically searching for an escape from Servu's ship when he heard the door slide open.

"Oh no..." Noxus moaned. Servu entered the ship, Imperialist ready.

"Hello, Vhozon!" Servu sneered, his yellow eye glinting, the Dark Armor he wore gleaming.

"I got locked in here, got to run!" Noxus babbled, racing for the door, but Servu lashed his claw out and slashed Noxus, knocking him to the ground.

"Don't give me a reason to kill you Vhozon!" Servu growled, pointing his Imperialist at Noxus' head.

"Like you need one to kill!" Noxus snapped, firing his Judicator. The Dark Armor reflected it easily and Servu chuckled. Noxus hastily charged the Judicator, releasing it to try to freeze Servu, but the armored kriken kicked the Judictor before release, causing the freeze ray to miss.

Servu grabbed Noxus' wrist and catapulted him over his shoulder into the wall. Noxus collapsed limply onto the table next to the safe, and glared at Servu.

"Really, Vhozon...Justice always loses...just think about it!" Servu sneered. Noxus glowered at Servu.

"You evil, twisted..." Noxus spat, but Servu fired the Imperialist, wounding Noxus' firing arm. Noxus felt anger, and also confusion. Spire had been righteous, but then grabbed some evil material to emerge as a truly hateful person. Samus had used the Omega Cannon recklessly, but took responsibility by destroying it. There would always be people like Kanden, Sylux, Weavel, and Servu. There weren't enough righteous people to fight them.

_Righteousness never wins...Vhozon. So weak...so naive to believe that good triumphs. The strong will win, and you're not strong!_ Noxus shook his head of those thoughts. Why wouldn't the thoughts fade? Why did he keep having such twisted thoughts? The frustration he felt was changed to a sense of calm revelation.

"No one respects Justice...no one ever has!" Noxus whispered. Servu snickered and fired his Imperialist, but Noxus rolled off the table and fired his Judicator. Servu dodged and fired again, striking Noxus in the chest.

"No one ever will respect you...or your pathetic belief in Justice!" Servu whispered, enjoying the tortured look upon Noxus' face. "Good-bye forever, Vhozon!" Servu said and fired at point blank range. Noxus flinched, and the beam hit him in the stomach, the pain doubling as he moved closer towards death.

"You'll die first..." Noxus groaned. Servu chuckled.

"Really? With you moments from death and me equipped with the ultimate armor, I'll die first?" Servu sneered.

_Do you guarantee it? You were right once, but this time there's no escaping your demise!_

"Shut up!" Noxus bellowed, struggling to his feet. Servu lashed out, smashing Noxus with the blunt side of his Imperialist, knocking him into the table, which collapsed from the force of the impact. The vial on the table shattered. The Dark Material splattered next to Noxus' Judicator.

"Farewell...Vhozon!" Servu whispered and fired the Imperialist. With lightning reflexes, Noxus raised his arm and the beam did nothing as it hit it. Servu blinked, uncertain if he was seeing things. Noxus grinned.

"Thought you'd kill me, Servu?" Noxus sneered.

"You should be dead!" Servu shouted. Noxus snickered, and Servu heard the hatred in his laugh. As if in slow motion, his eyes were drawn to Noxus' arm, which was covered in a black goo.

"NO!" Servu shrieked as the goo expanded, now covering Noxus' entire arm, and stretching further to armor his entire body. Noxus laughed.

"The power...it's the real Justice! To defeat evil, you must use power to win!" Noxus' voice was semi-demonic, and Servu felt a strange pang of fear, however brief.

"Ready to die?" Noxus hissed. Servu fired his Imperialist, and Noxus dodged, slamming his armored fist into Servu's head, knocking him to the floor. Noxus gripped Servu by the arm and flung him across the ship, and he slammed into the pilot controls. Slowly the ship began to rise into the air.

"Autopilot on...destination...Kriken Labs!" The automated computer said. Servu ignored it, focusing on dodging a Judicator shot.

"Pathetic Servu..." Noxus mocked, slamming his fist into Servu's armored chest with such force that Servu slammed violently into the computer, cracking it. Servu scowled. He felt the familar surge of power and launched himself at Noxus, dodging another punch while in midair, grabbing Noxus' arm and using it to pivot, slamming his foot into Noxus' spine. The Dark Armor cracked slightly, but instantly resealed, faster than Servu's could.

"The greater the power, the faster it works!" Noxus sneered, grabbing Servu and slamming the startled kriken to the ground. Servu was enraged. His armor, skills, and power were far greater than the Vhozon's!

He wasn't going to be second this time...he would kill Noxus, armored or not. With a new burst of energy, he slammed his fist into Noxus' head, then fired his Imperialist at Noxus. At close range, the damage was tremendous. Noxus snarled and smashed his own fist into Servu's head, launching him into the wall again, creating a large crack in the ship.

"You accursed Vhozon! You wrecked my ship!" Servu shrieked, focusing briefly. His fury soon became calm, and he felt stupendous strength which he used to smash Noxus as hard as he could. There was a terrific snapping sound and Noxus slammed into the autopilot computer, smashing it.

"Autopilot failing..." the automated voice said. Noxus dodged an Imperialist blast, which shattered the manual controls. The ship quivered, and Noxus leapt forward, slamming his foot into Servu's chest, slamming him back into the back of the ship, making the crack into a hole. A vacuum appeared, and Servu struggled against the titanic force to no avail. Noxus grinned.

"Ready to die?" he mocked, firing his Judicator and causing Servu to lose his balance, and a moment later they were both sucked from the ship into the whirling vacuum. Servu hissed in fury, gripping the tail of the ship, and Noxus did the same. With great effort, they pulled themselves onto the ship. The speed and strong winds were agonizing, and the Dark Armor formed helmets to protect their master's head.

The armored kriken glared at the black Vhozon, and they lunged forward. Noxus ducked the first blow, and Servu leapt over Noxus' kick, landing on the front of the ship, laughing. Inside the ship, they heard the computer report:

"Danger...autopilot disengaged. Obstruction ahead. Danger!" Servu glanced ahead of the ship. A huge mountain was about 3000 meters away.

"Plenty of time, eh Vhozon?" Servu hissed, firing his Imperialist. Noxus ducked and raced forward, firing his Judicator. Servu simply released his hold on the ship, and tumbled backwards, gripping a different part of the hull.

"You'll never catch me!" Servu cackled. Noxus charged his Judicator and fired down, freezing Servu. Noxus imitated Servu's escape technique and grabbed the ice statue, smirking as he slammed the Judicator in the ice statue's head. The ice shattered and they both tumbled free, grunting from the effort of remaining on the ship.

"2000 meters to obstruction. Extreme danger!" The computer urged, but neither paid much attention. The howling winds made hearing impossible. Noxus punched Servu, who grunted and fired the Imperialist into Noxus' head. The power was so strong that Noxus lost all grip and fell back, barely seizing the tail of the ship. He fired the Judicator again and Servu ducked.

"1000 meters. Change course immediately!" The computer urged, but only Noxus heard, but his fury allowed him to ignore it. Servu gaped at the mountain, but another Judicator shot shoved the thoughts from his mind and he crawled towards Noxus menacingly.

Noxus clambored back on top of the ship, charging his Judicator. He would freeze Servu and hop free before impact, killing the kriken. Then he could focus on the other evil beings, like Samus, Spire and Kanden. Actually, they all must die.

Everyone was evil, and Noxus would avenge the righteous. He grinned and fired his Judicator. Servu leapt up, and grabbed Noxus around the neck.

"Try it now, Ice-boy!" Servu sneered, slamming his fists at every inch of Noxus he could, doing no physical damage, but preventing retaliation.

"Emergency...abandon ship!" The computer said. Servu snickered and dropped free from Noxus, tumbling to the forest below. Noxus' eyes widened as he saw the looming mountain.

There was a burst of flame as the _Kriken Assassin_ slammed into the mountain, bursting into flame and debris. Noxus tumbled down the rocky slope, unmoving as his limp body bounced roughly, landing with a soft thud at the foot of the mountain.

Servu landed equally roughly, although without the bouncing and rolling down the mountain. He watched as the Kriken Assassin finished smoldering. His favorite ship was gone. His fury built up in a rush, and he felt greater power than ever before flowing through him. He would avenge his ship by killing Trace and taking his ship.

Then he would destroy Drek and Spire, claiming the ultimate honor and the title of Battlelord. No one could stop him now...


	20. Kriken Lab Battle

Drek slammed into Spire multiple times, weakening the armor just enough. He saw Trace fire the golden orb and retreated and blinked at the flash split the air, and a shockwave of incredible power spread.

Drek returned to biped and gripped Trace's arm. Then he pressed a button and Trace's ship flew towards them. They boarded hastily and Drek typed in a series of commands, activating the stealth settings.

"Quickly...tell me everything about this Dark Armor!" Drek demanded of Trace.

"Um...well when I was after the True Power, some weirdo called the Dark Hunter wore this strange suit of black armor that was almost impenetrable. Samus and I destroyed the armor using the Omega Cannon and the True Power. It increases abilities while corrupting you. It grows stronger the longer you have it. The Dark Hunter's armor had shapeshifting powers. I don't know much else." Trace explained. Drek turned to stare at him.

"Where did it originate?" Drek asked.

"I dunno. The guy had a weapon that gave Dark Armor, according to Weavel and Kanden." Trace shrugged. Drek puzzled this over a moment.

"Who was the freak?" Drek asked.

"Called himself the Dark Hunter and said he was the leader of a Dark League. Apparently Samus killed all the members." Trace said after a moment. Drek shrugged.

"Where are we going?" Trace asked.

"Kriken Labs. The Dark Armor Servu had came from there." Drek said with a trace of fury.

"You have that stuff here?" Trace gasped.

"We were trying to create the ultimate armor for our military. We acquired a sample and our researh was on replicating it. We have had minor success, according to the report. I need to see the research personally." Drek explained, turning the ship towards the Kriken Labs.

"What the hell?" Trace whispered. In the distance there had been an explosion by the mountain behind the lab.

"Your ship is still in perfect condition..." Drek mused, not hearing Trace or seeing the explosion.

"I try." Trace shrugged.

"Fixed the prisoner bay?" Drek asked. Trace winced.

"No." he admitted. Drek shrugged.

"I had a repair team work on your ship, so they might have done it." Drek replied. Trace went to the back of his ship and saw the prisoner bay had been perfectly restored.

"Is it?" Drek called.

"Yeah." Trace said. Drek smiled fondly at him.

"Ah...here we are!" Drek announced and they dropped from the ship, landing in front of the labs. Drek took out an ID and swiped it. The gate opened and they walked inside. Drek grabbed a black cloak just inside the door and wrapped it around himself, replacing the hood. Trace smiled to himself. Drek liked the Battlelord look a bit too much.

3 guards in the next room recoiled in horror before resuming position. The Battlelord instilled fear in every kriken's mind. Trace passed the guards, smirking smugly. Drek opened the next door into the high-security labs.

"Good evening. How can I help you, sir?" The head scientist, a yellow kriken, asked.

"I need to see the research. Servu was here earlier, correct?" Drek asked menacingly. The scientist gulped.

"Y-y-yes, my l-lord." she stammered.

"Relax. You are not under any form of investigation or in any danger at all. I merely require to see the research Servu saw. I need all information he received, especially the prototype. I do not need an escort, and only Trace will accompany me. You can then take the week off with pay. When you return, you shall receive a 20 percent raise." Drek said calmly. She hesitated, then walked over to a safe and withdrew a large file.

"Here it is, sir. The file on research and the key to the special lab." She smiled. Drek examined the file and then wrote a note and signed it, handing it to her.

"Enjoy the vacation." he said, returning the grin. She nodded and left. Trace stared at Drek curiously.

"Bribes work, bro. Oh...and she probably deserved a raise anyway." Drek said dismissively as they walked into the top-secret lab.

Dark Spire grinned as he saw the Kriken Labs ahead. He sensed Drek was there, and he was confident that Drek would die at his hand. He rolled into Dark Dialanche and traveled towards the labs. Revenge would be his. To avenge the Diamonts, and then set out to destroy the entire Kriken Empire.

Nearby, Servu returned to his feet, glancing around. Noxus had vanished, but that was no concern to him. He stared at the Kriken Labs. Without his ID, he couldn't acess the labs.

_So what? You can break such weak security!_ Servu smirked and stalked to the nearest wall. He focused briefly on his fury at Trace outdoing him. Then he released the burst of energy, releasing a shock wave that demolished the wall. Alarms began to blare, but Servu ignored them, using their annoying sound to fuel his anger.

He entered the lab through the wall, firing his deadly Imperialist at the panicking guards, his shots flawless. He chuckled and continued deeper into the lab, his Imperialist striking down the weaklings that resisted him.

The alarms started blaring and Drek raised his Imperialist instinctively, but then relaxed.

"No immediate threat..." he muttered when Trace looked at him. Trace shrugged, but found a nice corner to snipe from. Drek examined the prototype Dark Armor.

"Interesting design...most negative side-effects neutralized. I wonder how it works. Research is vague as to how it works." Drek murmured.

"Perhaps that is because it was not created by the research team, and was created somewhere else." Trace suggested, and Drek glanced at the corner where Trace was invisible.

"Or because they just don't understand it." Drek said. He lowered his hood again and held the armor to the light. Trace watched warily.

"Hello, Drek!" hissed a voice from the entrance. A beam of red fired from the corner Trace was in, but Dark Spire blocked it with a chuckle.

"Too obvious, kriken filth!" Spire hissed. Drek hadn't flinched, and in fact seemed to be ignoring Spire completely. Spire's eyes burned red and Drek's emerald eye met his gaze. The complete lack of fear in the face of danger was one thing Trace admired about his older brother.

"You want to kill me, Spire?" Drek whispered coldly.

"More than anything!" Spire spat in rage.

"Well, then make it evenly matched. Let's see if the armor is all it's cracked up to be!" Drek said calmly. Trace realized what Drek was suggesting.

"No! Drek!" Trace begged.

"Stop whining, bro!" Drek snapped, flinging his cloak aside dramatically and slipping the armor on easily. For a moment the armor gleamed, and then seemed to meld with his body to fit perfectly. Drek looked at the armor with amusement.

"Ready?" Drek whispered. Spire growled.

"You will die for what you did to me!" Spire sneered.

"You call sparing your worthless life something worth being killed for? Personally, I'd think you'd be thanking me! Otherwise, you'd be dead!" Drek snarled. Spire fired a few bursts of Darkfire, but Drek rolled forward, and the black fireballs flew over his head.

"You killed my parents! It's because of that I want you dead!" Spire snarled. Drek laughed, and Trace felt uneasy. Drek calmly dodged more Darkfire shots, and returned fire with his Imperialist. The beam did no real damage, but did more than their first battle. Spire roared in fury and lunged forward recklessly.

Drek crouched low to the ground and dodged the first punch, but a second hit with with such force he was knocked mercilessly to the ground. Trace gasped and Spire hissed in triumph before smashing his fist down upon Drek. Drek grunted in pain.

Spire laughed and repeated the attack, but with greater force, which would have easily snapped Drek's spine. The armor blocked the worst of the blow, and Spire raised his arm to deliver the intended final blow.

"Enough!" a voice demanded from the doorway. Spire hesitated for an instant. Drek took this opportunity to roll away from the blow's range and returned to his feet. Trace moaned in frustration.

"Does everybody have Dark Armor?!" he screamed. Noxus paid no attention to Trace's outburst, and slowly advanced upon the two combatants.

"What happened to you, Vhozon?" Trace asked.

"I've been reborn as the greatest hunter that ever lived." Noxus replied coolly, then raised his Judicator at Spire. "You'll pay for your crimes! Most notably your theft of Dark Armor!" Noxus hissed, although he ironically was also wearing Dark Armor.

"Well bring it on, filth!" Dark Spire spat furiously. Noxus grinned cruelly and fired his Judicator. Spire ducked and snickered as he advanced on Noxus.

"This should be good!" Drek whispered to Trace, who was staring at the two armored hunters with a mixture of shock and amusement. They faced each other from across the lab, both wearing Dark Armor, their faces alive with malice.

Their hatred had consumed them, and there was no turning back now.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	21. Duel of Darkness

Samus, Sylux, Kanden, and Weavel were searching for some sign of where to go after the encounter with Dark Spire.

"I heard that the Krikens were doing some military experiments at the Kriken Labs to the north." Sylux suggested.

"Might give us a clue where the Dark Armor came from." Weavel said.

Samus, who had been thinking silently for a while, suddenly asked, "Sylux? When you were given Dark Armor...what were the effects?" Sylux looked alarmed by the question, but paused and considered it.

"I felt stronger, more confident. It improved my aim, power, defense, and speed." Sylux said.

"What were the side effects, if any?" Samus persisted.

"Increased aggression, recklessness. Anger also increased the effects of the Dark Armor. Being calm often made tapping into the powers difficult." Sylux replied.

"So Spire must have been feeling incredible hatred because of the Armor?" Samus asked hopefully. Sylux shook his head.

"No...the Armor doesn't add false thoughts. It intensifies existing thoughts. Let's face it, Spire spent years searching for the Diamonts. Only a few weeks ago, he learned of their extinction at the hands of krikens." Sylux suggested.

"According to Kanden, Trace was very cruel when relating the information. I assume Spire is also furious that Trace's brother was behind it, and Trace was given the task of killing him. Now, Spire decides to check the sources at the Kriken Archives, where is assaulted by that Servu guy, who is also obsessed with killing him. Spire and Noxus escape thanks to Sylux and me, and they are captured later. Thanks to Noxus and me, he is saved. Then, we show up at the city and Spire sees Trace's brother, believed dead. Now he has a source and a target for his darker feelings." Samus pointed our. They all considered this.

"That means that he got Dark Armor deliberately..." Weavel whispered. "He didn't stumble upon it, he wanted it!" There was complete silence.

"That's sick." Samus said with disgust.

"Actually...it makes perfect sense. Spire knew he wasn't strong enough to kill Drek, so he went to get the tools for the job." Kanden said.

"What about Noxus?" Sylux asked.

"Another interesting debate, but we have no clues to work off of." Samus replied.

"There's the Kriken Labs. Looks like there's been some damage." Weavel mused. They dropped down from the Delano 8 and walked through the shattered wall. There seemed to be a disturbance coming from a few rooms down a hallway. They rushed to the source and stopped, staring in horror.

"Looks like we solved that question..." Kanden said, grinning with amusement.

Dark Noxus hissed in fury as Dark Spire fired Darkfire.

"So weak!" Noxus sneered, firing the Judicator. Spire blocked with ease and lunged forward, slamming his fist into Noxus, who was blasted backwards into the wall, shaking the room, but doing no damage.

"What a waste of effort!" Noxus commented, charging his Judicator.

"Just getting warmed up, Vhozon!" Spire sneered, charging his Darkmaul. They gazed at each other, Spire's eyes burned red while Noxus glared back. They fired their shots simultaneously, and they collided, creating an explosion, the shockwave shattering all glass in the room. Spire growled impatiently.

"I don't have time for filth like you, Vhozon! I'll crush you after the Krikens!" Spire raged. Noxus chuckled.

"Don't think you have what it takes to beat me? Bring it boulderman!" Noxus mocked. Spire growled and rolled into Dialanche, dark blades spinning. Noxus spun into Dark Scythe, the blade reinforced and no longer needing to charge it to reach full length. 2 missiles fired from a corner, striking them both.

Enraged, both returned to biped, firing their weapons into the corner. Drek laughed and shot their projectiles with his Imperialist, neutralizing them. Trace moved to a different location. The fight continued.

Samus was horror-struck. Where did Noxus get Dark Armor? Why was Drek wearing Dark Armor? Why was Servu standing right next to them, watching the battle. She blinked and looked again. Servu seemed oblivious to them, and was fascinated by the battle.

"Pity..." Servu whispered, raising his Imperialist. Kanden charged his Volt Driver and fired, the electricity rushing through Servu, who shook it off easily.

"Trying to interfere with me?" Servu sneered. Kanden hesitated.

"Get down!" Samus yelled suddenly. The hunters hit the deck, but Servu ignored the warning, his eye widening as he saw the golden orb strike the ground, and the flash of light from the neighboring room. The shockwave knocked him off his feet, but he immediately recovered. What happened? Servu stared through the window back to the fight, struggling to make sense of it all.

Trace was really annoyed. He hated the pointless battles being wagered, aided by Dark Armor corruption. He signaled to Drek, who smirked and morphed to Triskelion. As soon as there was an opening, Drek lunged, striking Spire, who keeled over in pain.

Drek had a strange poison in his Triskelion claws that caused greater damage. Only venom-green krikens had this ability, and the venom was only used in rare circumstances, as a venom kriken should never rely on poison to win a battle. However, Drek's Triskelion already could weaken Dark Armor, so Trace had suggested using venom combined with the Dark Armor-enhanced Triskelion.

Drek had reluctantly agreed since he too had felt the effects of his own Dark Armor. He hated it with a passion. It felt wrong to be enhancing his powers without working to accomplish it naturally. Unlike Servu, Drek was a true prodigy. He had trained for years as well as his own natural skill. The Dark Armor production hadn't been his idea, but the Overlord's.

However, Drek at the same time loved the power he felt while wearing the Dark Armor...and that feeling was growing stronger, and becoming more comfortable. He struck again, watching as Noxus vainly attacked Spire. Then Drek inched towards Noxus and repeated his last strategy. Noxus' armor was weaker than Spire's since he had worn it less.

"Now!" Trace yelled, and fired the Omega Cannon. The combatants froze in mute horror, and then there was the flash. Drek was protected by his Triskelion's invisibility, and Trace was behind the pedestal the Dark Armor had been on. The smoke cleared, and Spire was facedown on the floor. The shattered Dark Armor had begun to reform, but Spire was freed from the armor's power.

Drek returned to biped as Samus, Sylux, Weavel, and Kanden rushed into the lab. Samus fired missiles to push the Dark Armor away from Spire. Then she shoved the melting armor into a jar, and watched as it returned to its sludge form. Spire groaned and struggled to stand. However, Samus refused to allow it.

"Don't forget me, Samus: the evil one!" Dark Noxus hissed. His armor had reformed faster than Spire's had attempted to.

"Noxus...stop this now!" Samus commanded, but Noxus cackled cruelly.

"Shut up, human scum!" Noxus sneered. Samus recoiled, his words had hurt her more than expected. Noxus' sense of righteousness had gone, and she was reminded of how he had risked his life to save her from her own personal demons while temporarily corrupted by the Dark Hunter. Perhaps she could do the same for him, or die trying...


	22. Corrupted Justice

Dark Noxus glared at Samus hatefully. It felt good to hate, to unleash power upon the ones who defied Justice. This had been his life's true task: To kill all evildoers. Noxus lunged forward and smashed Samus with his powerful fist.

Samus, surprised by his speed, was knocked roughly to the ground. She sprang to her feet and fired a missile half-heartedly. Noxus blocked it with his armored arm and fired a Judicator bolt. It hit Samus and she groaned from the sudden cold, but recovered quickly.

"Surrendering to your fate?" Noxus hissed, preparing a charged Judicator.

"Noxus! This isn't the way it has to be! You're good, not evil!" Samus yelled.

"I know, it's you that's evil!" Noxus snapped, releasing his charge, but Samus leapt backwards in time to avoid it.

"The armor is affecting your mind! Get rid of it!" Samus yelled, dodging more Judicator shots, which richocheted dangerously around her.

"The armor gave me the power I need to defeat evil!" Noxus shrieked, rage building. How dare the human scum insult his abilities! Noxus fired his Judicator again and saw Samus duck, but the bolt bounced back and hit her, causing her to stumble forward. Noxus swung his Judicator like a club, and with greater force than ever before.

He hit her in the head and heard the visor crack as she was thrown back into the lab wall. He laughed coldly and equipped the Imperialist to do one final shot. He aimed at her helpless body and fired. At the same time, Spire rolled forward and slammed Noxus with all his strength. Noxus stumbled, and the Imperialist hit Spire instead, crippling him temporarily. Noxus cackled and raised his Imperialist to aim at the recovering Samus.

"Good bye, evildoer!" Noxus sneered and fired. Samus tried to dodge, but to no avail. The beam drained most of her energy and she fell to the ground, energy at 1. Trace and Drek watched in a mixture of amusement and horror.

"Good riddance!" Noxus sneered. Samus raised her arm cannon and fired a missile, and Noxus dodged it. The missile exploded and Noxus advanced on Samus, ready to finish her once and for all. Trace shrieked in stunned disbelief.

Samus' missile had hit a small explosive shell, which exploded with far greater force. Noxus whirled around and dodged a shockwave, giving Samus the opportunity to use her second recovery energy tank, giving her enough energy to continue the fight with Noxus.

"This isn't like you, Noxus! Wake up!" Samus yelled, firing her missiles. Noxus dodged each one and snickered.

"Trying to confuse me won't work, scum!" Noxus sneered, firing Judicator shots with great ferocity. Samus dodged them and struggled to think of how to get through to the corrupted Noxus.

"You're not this violent, Noxus!" Samus half-pleaded. Drek chuckled at how Samus was degrading herself by resorting to whining. Noxus ignored her and fired again, and Samus was once more stunned by the fierce cold.

"Think about it, Noxus! Why did you become a hunter?" she persisted, trying the same tactic he had used to free her. Of course, the complication of the Dark Armor was really starting to bug her.

"To kill evildoers!" Noxus responded furiously.

"And your violent rage is righteous?" Samus argued, ducking as more Judicator shots flew over her head.

"I'll defeat evildoers by any means necessary!" Noxus spat.

"Then you're no better than they are!" Samus said, firing missiles. Noxus blocked them all, and laughed.

"I'm stronger than they are!" Noxus hissed.

"Strength isn't what makes you better than others, and that armor sure isn't making you better!" Samus yelled. Noxus paused.

"What does that mean?" Noxus leered.

"The armor makes you think you're stronger, but in reality, it's warping the truth! You always were strong Noxus...but now I have no respect for you at all!" Samus shouted. Noxus' grin reappeared.

"Respect...who cares what you think? Evildoers get no respect from me either!" Noxus sneered.

"I'm not evil, Noxus!" Samus yelled, getting annoyed.

"That's my judgment!" Noxus sneered.

"Judgments can be wrong! I'm one of the hunters who tries to make the universe better! How could I be evil?" Samus demanded. Noxus hesitated a second, but that was all Samus needed. She lunged forward, smashing her arm cannon into Noxus' chest, stunning him. She then fired a group of missiles and Noxus roared in fury.

"Get...it...through...that...thick...armor...of yours...I'm not evil and neither are you!" Samus bellowed, firing missiles rapid fire. The armor cracked and Trace recognized his cue, firing the Omega Cannon.

Noxus' eyes widened in horror as the flash of light struck him directly, filling his body with pain. Then it was gone, and he collapsed to the ground. The armor had shattered completely, and Samus hurried to trap the melting armor into a jar.

"Took long enough!" Samus muttered. Noxus stared around the room in shock and confusion, then slowly turned to look at the jar with the Dark Armor in it. He shuddered, then passed out. Samus groaned as the pain of the battle suddenly caught up with her.

"Hahahaha! Fascinating battle!" hissed the familar voice of Servu, who emerged in the entrance of the lab, clad in his black armor, complete with helmet, the eye glowing eeriely yellow.

"What do you want?" Trace snapped in frustration.

"Simple...I want you dead!" Servu replied, and fired his Imperialist at Trace, who dodged easily.

"I thought you'd have gotten better by now, Servu!" Trace hissed. Servu's eye flashed red a moment and then returned to yellow.

"Prepare to die! This will be our last duel...and this time...winner take all!" Servu sneered.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	23. Last Duel

Servu and Trace stared at the other for only a second before Trace fired his Imperialist, but Servu dodged by morphing to Triskelion. Trace fired his Alt-Disabling missile, which Servu dodged by lunging, then returned to biped.

"You're dead, Tracey!" Servu hissed. Drek watched this battle with a mixture of admiration and anxiety. Servu's Imperialist shot missed Trace by an inch, and Trace fired an Imperialist shot, which narrowly missed.

"Can't seem to kill me, can you Tracey?" Servu mocked. Trace seethed with hatred. He had always hated the name Tracey, as much as Noxus hated the name Nox. Despite this, all the other hunters had referred to Noxus as 'Nox' at least once. No one had ever called him 'Tracey' though, except for Servu. Trace fired his Imperialist with all his skill, but Servu leapt into the air, easily avoiding the beam.

Trace fired at the descending figure, but Servu twisted his body to dodge the beam, firing his own Imperialist back at Trace. Servu landed, and immediately rolled forward to dodge another beam. Trace ducked behind a small support pillar to avoid another beam, and fired the Omega Cannon. Servu fired his Imperialist expertly, and the projectiles collided, creating 2 separate, but smaller Omega Cannon projectiles.

Servu was alarmed, but stood still as the projectiles passed on either side of him. Then he morphed to Triskelion before the double explosion. The other hunters had left the room for the shelter nearby, all watching with awe.

Kanden had reluctantly given them all their own bowl of popcorn so they wouldn't keep trying to take some from his. Drek alone remained in the room, although he was behind a special forcefield. (The perks of being Battlelord at the labs: Access to all projects). Servu grinned and fired his Imperialist again, which Trace narrowly dodged, retaliating with his own beam. Servu grunted as the beam hit him, but it did no damage.

His yellow eye turned red briefly, and Trace ducked as a beam was shot at him. Servu seemed to be getting better at his accuracy, which was already superb. Trace knew he could beat Servu, Dark Armor or not. Servu was faster than before, and Trace was getting uneasy. He dodged a few more beams, and his own beams were easily dodged. Trace morphed to Triskelion and lunged out from cover, lunging at Servu, who hopped over the Triskelion with ease and fired downwards, missing the Triskelion by a millimeter.

Trace hastened back to biped and fired, point-blank range, at Servu's head. Servu's eye widened as he was hit, but shook off the pain and fired back. Trace had anticipated the retaliation, and sidestepped, firing back at Servu, who leapt back as well, the beam missing.

"You can do better than that, Tracey!" Servu sneered, and Trace replied by firing, scoring a direct hit. Servu roared with pain and focused.

_Rage is power...and you're too weak to use it..._With a cold smile, Servu felt his anger flow like energy as he raised his Imperialist.

"You're the weak one, Tracey!" Servu whispered, firing. The shot seemed to bend, homing in on Trace, who dove out of the way just in time. He rolled to his feet, and fired back, this time using the Battlehammer, which exploded at Servu's feet. Servu stumbled, but quickly regained his balance.

"I always was better, Trace..." Servu whispered. His beam flew and struck Trace in the head. Trace stumbled, then fell to his knees. His eye was glazed slightly.

"Bow to your master..." Servu hissed. Trace managed to aim his arm cannon at Servu, and he fired a final Omega Cannon blast. Servu laughed at this and calmly walked into the blast.

The intense shockwave did minimal damage to Servu, but Trace had no protection, launching him across the lab into the wall, where he slumped. Servu fired his Imperialist and Trace let out a weak yell of pain and collapsed.

"He's got perhaps 5 minutes to live...I win. Looks like you paid, Trace. Now I'm the best!" Servu sneered.

Drek gazed in absolute horror as he saw the Imperialist strike Trace. That was a near fatal blow, once amplified by the Dark Armor.

"TRACE!" Drek shrieked. Servu laughed coldly, and Drek felt a surge of fury like nothing he had ever felt before. The Dark Armor shimmered and Drek screamed in pain. The armor...it felt like it was constricting...the pain also seemed to be making him stronger.

Drek relaxed, savoring the power surge. He deactivated the force field around him. He grinned maliciously and raised his Imperialist. He fired the beam wasn't red, but black. Servu gasped as he turned and saw the beam, which struck him in the chest.

Servu bellowed in agony and Drek's grin widened. He ran at Servu with a speed greater than anything he had ever accomplished, appearing behind Servu in the blink of an eye, slamming his fist into Servu's face, who screamed in pain, a crack appearing in Servu's armor.

Drek continued this assault relentlessly, moving as a black blur, too fast for the Imperialist, or even the eye, to follow. He smashed at every inch of Servu that he could, landing 5-20 blows per second, each stronger than the last. He savored Servu's screams of agony, took pleasure in Servu's pain. Then he grabbed Servu and slammed him to the ground, the armor shattering completely. Servu twitched, armorless.

Drek once again remembered that Servu was a mere red kriken...not nearly as strong as he was, a venom kriken. Servu looked at Drek with a grin.

"I killed Trace...I accomplished my goal..." Servu sneered. Drek seized the armorless Servu and slammed him to the ground again, taking pleasure at the sounds of bones cracking he heard, crippling Servu. The armor Servu had worn was forming a pool around Servu's immobile body, which was bleeding. Servu looked afraid, an emotion Drek savored, pointing the Imperialist at him.

"Please...spare me..." Servu begged, and Drek's grin widened as he fired. The beam hit Servu, whose eye closed and he went limp. The Dark Armor puddle engulfed Servu's motionless body, and Servu's body melted as well, joining the pool of the Armor.

Then the pool vanished, bit by bit until nothing remained. Drek, rather than feel pleased, or relieved, was even more furious. He stormed from the lab and vanished into the night. After a few seconds, there was an explosion.

"WARNING! Lab power malfunction! Evacuate immediately! 3 minutes to complete destruction!" 3:00. 2:59...Samus, Sylux, Weavel, Kanden, Spire, and Noxus stared at each other.

"Let's go!" Noxus yelled, running towards the exit. Samus, however, ran back into the lab. She reached Trace's fallen body and hastened to find a pulse. After several attempts, she found one. He was alive, but barely. She fumbled in her supplies and withdrew her last recovery tank, which she administered quickly. Trace jerked, regaining consciousness.

"Wha...?" he yelped, looking around in confusion.

"Explain later, go now!" Samus yelled, leading him towards the exit.

"1 minute to destruction!" The automated voice called. There were several miniature explosions, and they were growing steadily larger. 0:45...Samus and Trace had reached a staircase leading to 'Emergency Escape' room, but as they climbed, an explosion tore the stairs in half, and they stared at the 10 foot gap.

"We're done for..." Trace moaned, but Samus grabbed Trace's arm and leapt over the gap. Too short! She fired her grapple beam which hook onto the ceiling. She tried to swing, but the weight was too much. Trace leapt from her and gripped the stairs, pulling himself up.

"Come on!" Trace urged. Samus jerked the grapple beam and aimed for the stairs, but lost her footing and began to fall. Trace grabbed her arm just in time and she managed to grapple back up. 0:08...They hurried into the Escape room and activated the console.

"Eject!" Samus yelled, slamming her fist onto the button. 0:02...0:01...0:00...

"Ejecting Escape Pod!" The computer said, and there was a loud bang as the tiny room accelerated from the labs as it burst into flames, consuming all the research data, and the projects.

"Ooh...least she's on vacation..." Trace muttered. Samus looked at him curiously, but he didn't explain. The escape pod landed not far from the destroyed lab, and Trace signalled his ship to get him, while Samus did the same with hers.

"You owe me, Trace!" Samus warned. Trace hesitated.

"How should I repay it?" he asked. "The Omega Cannon!" Samus demanded.

"Great, get your life saved, give up the only thing allowing you to stay at your homeworld!" Trace muttered darkly. Samus shrugged and Trace handed her the Omega Cannon data file.

"Well now...I have to leave!" Trace growled, and he entered his ship, taking off. Samus didn't really feel bad for him. He'd find a way to complete the exile, and then he'd be welcomed back. She set her course for the Federation escorts. Her mission had been somewhat completed, and she had retrieved the Omega Cannon.


	24. Ending

"Come on...hurry!" Sylux urged as he had become the reluctant escort for Weavel, Kanden, Noxus, and Spire.

"Enlighten me...why don't you have your ships?" Sylux asked for the fifth time.

"Kanden and I were ordered to meet the Battlelord, Drek. We were forced to land! The docking bay still has our ships!" Weavel said in annoyance.

"Um...we got captured. The docking bay also has our ships." Noxus admitted. Sylux sighed as they reached the docking bay in question. Kriken guards raised their weapons.

"Calm down...we're just getting our ships!" Noxus said. The guards didn't lower their weapons, so Noxus went to plan B. He fired his charged Judicator at the ground, freezing all the guards.

"Go!" Noxus yelled. He raced for the Eternal Justice, which he noted had been marked: "Really Dumb Name Ship owned by Noxus the Vhozon. Requires special permission to remove from bay".

Noxus ripped the tag off and activated his systems, taking off quickly as guards recovered from the Shadow Freeze, yelling as they fired at the escaping hunters. Noxus received 4 transmissions. First was from Spire.

"They put a tag on mine saying 'Avalanche owned by the Last Diamont. To be auctioned!" Spire said indignantly. Noxus chuckled.

"Promise now: Never touch Dark Armor again!" Noxus said.

"Whatever!" Spire said with a grin. Noxus answered his next 3.

"Nice tag on your ship, Noxus!" Kanden said. Noxus rolled his eyes.

"See you later, Noxus!" Sylux said.

"Remember...we're not friends!" Weavel said, a little too cheerfully.

"Well...that was odd..." Noxus murmured to himself as he set a random course. What evildoer would he track this time?

Samus reached the Federation rendezvous, and walked towards Commander Grater's office.

"Status?" Grater roared without preamble.

"There are no kriken fleet positions near Federation planets, and I retrieved the Omega Cannon." Samus replied, showing the data chip. Grater glanced at it, and snorted indifferently.

"You'll be paid $2,000 for services." he yelled.

"Excuse me?" Samus retorted.

"I SAID $2000 FOR SERVICES!" Grater bellowed.

"I heard you the first time! Why only $2000? I believe I put in a lot of effort for a fruitless, yet dangerous mission!" Samus yelled back.

"So you think you deserve more?!" Grater roared.

"Only about 50 times more!" Samus said icily.

"Well you don't pick the price, do you? You are hired by us at our price!" Grater shouted. Curious troops decided to sneak looks at them.

"I can think of agencies that pay significantly more than $2000 for less dangerous missions!" Samus responded.

"Then go to them! We have plenty of hunters who would love our wages!" Grater shouted. Samus grinned under the helmet.

"I think I will. I think your old rivals, the Space Pirates would pay millions for the data I've got..." she turned to go. Grater's face had turned purple, and he was at a loss of what to yell next.

"You do that and you'll have every hunter in the universe tracking you!" he finally shouted. Samus laughed.

"I already have the top 6 doing that..." she replied. Grater looked like he would have a seizure. "Difference is...I think the Space Pirates would be on my side..." Samus added, and Grater's face darkened to a color Samus couldn't even name.

"You wouldn't dare do that!" Grater screamed.

"My life revolves around the paycheck, so I doubt there's anything I wouldn't do, Gabe." Grater's jaw dropped open (with a loud click). No one had ever called him by his first name unless they outranked him.

"See? I'm not even getting paid for that one!" Samus chuckled. Grater muttered loudly as he grabbed a check and wrote a number and handed it to her.

"Here!" he yelled. She studied it.

"I don't accept post-dated checks." Samus said coolly. Grater scowled with a loud grunt and rewrote a check and tossed it to her.

"That's better. See you next mission, Gabe." Samus said cheerfully.

"We need you now!" Grater bellowed.

"Sorry, I'm freelance. I prioritize my missions, and I have a personal mission to do, and it'll probably pay more than you guys do!" she called back.

"What do you get paid for it?" Grater shouted as she exitted.

"Nothing!" the reponse was. The conference room was suddenly filled with soldiers laughing.

Trace studied his computer data. Apparently, the information he was looking for pointed towards a deserted system. The planets there were not inhabited, so the Kriken Empire wouldn't care about them, aside from that they were more planets.

He shook his head. He'd complete the exile after fulfilling his other goal. Then he could return to the Empire for honor and riches. He examined his supplies and smiled. Drek had filled the supplies. Wait...where was Drek? Where had he gone? Trace knew Drek had been the one to trigger the lab's destruction, but where had he gone?

Trace pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He would find Drek, but he had other business first. He activated his recovery systems and sighed as his energy was restored. He reloaded his weapons and smiled at the Omega Cannon.

Did Samus truly believe he'd hand it over so easily? He had given her a temporary download. It only had one shot, then it was useless. He needed the Cannon anyway to accomplish his goal...

**This story is completed! I'm working on the last part of the trilogy. (Yes, it's a trilogy) I hope it will be as good as these were(my opinion). Please review, and let me know any things I should fix in my writing in general. If you have any questions, you can PM me. Thanks for reading!**


End file.
